Big Time Surprises
by Blue Leah
Summary: Sequel to Big Time Break. Lucy has a big surprise for James. She's pregnant. Other surprises among all the guys show up along the way. Formerly titled Big Time Secrets.
1. Chapter 1

Lucy burst into apartment 2J almost knocking Katie off the stool she sat on at the counter where she was doing some studying.

"Is your brother home?"

"No."

"James, Carlos, Logan?"

"No, no, no, and my mom's not here, either."

"Good. I need to talk to you."

Katie closed her textbook and turned around to her brother's best friend's girlfriend.

"Promise you won't tell James?" Lucy sat down on the other stool.

"What is it?" Katie asked excitedly.

"Promise you won't tell James?" Lucy repeated.

"I promise," Katie sighed.

"And you won't tell Kendall, Carlos, or Logan?"

"I promise."

"You won't tell anyone, not even your mother, but especially not James?"

"I promise! This has got to be good."

Lucy gulped. She pulled somethings out of the inside pocket of her leather jacket and showed them to Katie who's eyes turned the size of dinner plates.

"No!" Katie exclaimed. "Is that?"

Taking a deep breath Lucy replied, "Yeah."

"Are you…? Is James…? Oh my gosh!"

"Yes and yes. Back when the guys were having their 'feud', around Christmas, we, um, we did it for the first time and a few times after that," she sighed wondering why she was talking to a fourteen year old about her sex life. "And we may not have always used protection."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I want to keep it. I guess. I mean, I haven't really thought about it. I only just found out about an hour ago. I don't know what James wants to do. Promise me you won't tell him?"

"I won't tell him, but you'll need to."

"I know. I don't know how." Lucy picked up one of the pregnancy tests she had placed on the counter. There were two. One to tell her the news and the other to confirm it. "He has mentioned wanting kids, but one day. I'm sure not now, not in the highlight of his career. Hell, what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to go on a North American tour this summer. Sure as hell can't do that with my belly out to here." A tear escaped down her cheek. "I'm such a wuss crying about this."

"No, you're not." Katie wrapped her arms around Lucy. "James is one of the sweetest and most caring guys I know. He loves you and I'm pretty sure he's gonna love this baby."

"Yeah?" Lucy picked up the other test and placed them both back in her jacket pocket.

"Yeah. If you need anything just remember I'm here for you."

"Thanks. It is much easier talking to you about this than the guys." She stood up. "I'm gonna go lay down, I think." She headed for the front door. "Thanks."

"Everything's going to be okay," Katie assured. Lucy nodded as she opened the door.

Stepping into the hall she bumped into James and Kendall. She stumbled back a step and her hand flew to her mouth. She thought James said something but her head swam so much she couldn't make it out. All she could do was dash to her apartment.

.O.

"Ready for our date tonight?" James asked as he bumped into his girlfriend, Lucy in the hall. Today was Valentine's Day and he and Kendall were returning from the pool to get ready for their separate dates. Lucy looked up at him with worried brown eyes. That wasn't a good sign. Immediately, her hand went to her mouth and she fled the scene.

"What was that about?" James asked.

"I think you just made her sick," Kendall joked.

James dropped the towel around his shoulders and ran after Lucy. He found her door unlocked so he was able to just go on inside.

"Lucy?" He called out.

No answer.

"Lucy? Are you here?"

He was answered this time by a noise coming from the bathroom.

"Oh, Lucy." As he came upon the scene of her throwing up into the toilet, he bent down, and held her long brown and red hair behind her back. "If you're sick we don't have to go out tonight. Hey, yeah, I'll cancel our reservations and cook you something." He wasn't sure he'd ever made a real dinner before and wasn't quite sure what he'd do now, but if his Lucy was sick, he'd take care of her.

She turned to smile slightly at him before releasing more contents from her stomach into the porcelain bowl. That was when she noticed something on the floor, something that had fallen out of her pocket, the inside pocket of her favorite coat. As she went to grab it, she saw James's tan hand go for it, too.

"It's positive," she coughed.

"P-positive?" James fell back against the bathroom wall. "You mean you—we—us—you—"

Lucy nodded. She wiped her mouth with toilet paper and flushed finally feeling done with being sick.

"Happy Valentine's Day." She looked at him weakly.

"H-how far along?" James tried calculating the days on his fingers. "We, um, haven't done it since New Year's, right?"

"I don't know. I just found out earlier."

"We need to make you a doctor's appointment."

"Yeah." She fell into James's arms, which he wrapped around her. "You're not mad?"

"Mad? No. Surprised, yeah. We didn't exactly plan this. But, mad? No. Luce, we're going to be parents!"

"You're okay with this?"

"I'm going to be a dad. Oh my gosh, I'm going to be a dad!"

"You want to keep it?"

"Of course! You weren't, um, you weren't think of getting rid of it, were you?"

"No, no, of course not. I just didn't know what you wanted."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Do you think we can handle it?"

"Yeah. BTR's doing well now and you've got your career."

"That's what I mean. We're both in the midst of booming careers. We don't have time for a baby."

"We'll make time." He pulled Lucy's face up to him. "You're the most important thing to me and now so is this baby. There's nothing I won't do for you. I'll be here for everything you need even if that means I have to leave in the middle of a concert or recording or give up a photo shoot or whatever. You come first." James wiped away a tear falling down her cheek. "Don't cry."

She smiled watery at him. "I—it's just—I can't put my career on hold for 9+ months. I have a tour this summer. A tour, James! I can't go on a tour when I'll be about to pop."

"Shh, don't stress yourself out." He rubbed her back. "Everything will work itself out. It's going to be okay. And I'm going to be right here with you every step of the way." He pulled Lucy to her feet. "Why don't we go somewhere more comfortable?"

They left the bathroom for the beige couch in the living area. The two kicked off their shoes, which was much easier for James since he had on flip-flops and Lucy wore her black boots, and cuddled together.

"My manager's not going to be happy about this," she admitted.

"At least he won't kill you." James shuddered at the thought of how Gustavo would react to the news.

"Can we not tell anyone just yet?" Lucy asked laying her head on James's muscular chest.

"I think they'll eventually find out."

"I know but I'm just not ready for the news to be out there. You know how the media gets."

James kissed Lucy's forehead. "I think we need to tell a few people soon, though."

Lucy sat up and looked at him with the most worried expression on her face. "No…"

"Which would hurt them more? You telling them or them finding out from a website or a TV show?"

"But not right now."

"OK, not today."

Lucy laid her head back down on James's chest.

"I'm not exactly looking forward to telling my mom, either." He placed his chin on top of her head.

There was a knock on the door. James and Lucy shared a look.

"Come in," Lucy called out.

"Hey, just checking to see if everything's okay?" Kendall stepped into the room.

"Yeah, yeah," James replied. "We're just going to stay in tonight. Have a little Valentine's date in 2I, just the two of us."

"You sure everything's okay?"

"Everything's fine." He looked down at Lucy and then back at Kendall. "When do you plan on returning from your date?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"Um," James rubbed Lucy's shoulder. "I'll talk to Carlos and Logan but how about we have dessert in 2J later, like about 10?"

"OK…are you sure nothing's up?"

"Everything's fine. What do you want me to get for dessert? Ice cream? Cake? Tiramisu from the coffee shop?"

"If you two are staying in Jo and I can just pick something up."

"Is that okay with you, Luce?"

She nodded slowly.

"OK, cool, see you at ten."

"I don't care what he gets," Lucy said once Kendall left the apartment. "But, why did you do that?"

"We're going to tell them tonight."

Lucy sat up abruptly.

"What the hell?"

"We have to tell them eventually and it'll be good to have them in our corner when we tell our managers. It'll also warm us up for having to tell our parents."

"No." She sighed. "Well…"

James clasped his hands together under his chin.

"OK…okay. We can tell them and only them tonight." She lay back down against James. "Maybe we should also tell Mrs. Knight. Don't want her to be the only one in the apartment who doesn't know."

"Katie?"

"That's where I was coming from when I ran into you."

.O.

Lucy stirred the spoon of the sundae she shared with James. If she took a bite she knew she'd be sick and most likely it would come out before she made it to the bathroom.

Sitting around 2J that night were Mrs. Knight and Katie at the counter, neither of them having dates, and Carlos, Alexa, Logan, Camille, Kendall, Jo, James, and Lucy around the table, all sharing containers of strawberry sundaes.

"You okay?" James whispered leaning in closer to Lucy.

"A little nauseas."

"You wanna lie down?"

"I just want to get this over with."

"Hey, lovebirds," Logan spoke up. "Why did you gather us here tonight?"

James grabbed Lucy's hand. "What makes you think we have a reason besides just wanting to hang out with our friends on the most romantic day of the year?"

"I dunno, do you?"

"We have something we'd like to tell you."

"Whatever could it be?" Katie asked. Lucy wanted to smack her but she refrained. For one thing, she was too far away. For another, she didn't want to make her mad and lose her support system.

"I can do this," Lucy cleared her throat. "We're—I—we're…"

"We're having a baby!" James finished.

Kendall froze with his spoon halfway to his mouth. Carlos performed a classic spit-take with the ice cream in his mouth. Logan's went the other way causing him to cough as he choked. Katie continued eating her ice cream like nothing happened. Mrs. Knight looked at the couple in shock. Jo, Camille, and Alexa ran over to Lucy and enveloped her in a tight hug.

Lucy's response when the girls let go was to throw up on the floor in front of them.

* * *

><p><strong>Welcome to the sequel of <em>Big Time Break.<em> As you can see this takes place a month and fourteen days after the last one ended. **


	2. Chapter 2

Lying in his bed, James thought about all that had happened that day. He was supposed to take Lucy to a new fancy restaurant that had opened near them, but instead they stayed home and spent Valentine's Day in her apartment. He had thoughts of cooking her dinner, but being inexperienced in that area they ordered in from the local deli.

"I forgot to give her the gift!" He smacked his forehead. Sitting on his desk was a black leather bound notebook wrapped in silver and pink wrapping paper. She always carried around this ratty cheap notebook to write her songs in and he thought she'd enjoy something more sophisticated. Plus, it just screamed "Lucy Stone" when he saw it in the store.

Not wasting another second James jumped out of bed, threw on a shirt, grabbed the gift, and left the apartment hoping not to wake his roommate, Carlos, who was finally getting good sleep since his concussion, on the way out.

He knocked softly on Lucy's door and not even a minute later she appeared, rumpled pajamas and wild hair. After taking one look at her he pulled her into a deep, satisfying kiss.

"Can't sleep, either?" She asked once they broke apart.

"Forgot to give you your gift." He handed her the box.

"Oh, yeah," she chuckled. "Yours is in my room."

Together they sat on her bed opening their belated Valentine's gifts. James watched Lucy finger the cover of the journal. She opened it to find on the first page a poem written by James.

_I did not know the meaning of true love _

_Until I met you_

_I did not know how to give my heart away _

_Until I met you _

_You teach me to let go of everything _

_What I thought I was _

_Become the man I know I truly can be _

_You keep me going _

_When I get too crazy you keep me calm _

_Always keep me free _

_You are my first, my last, and now my only _

_I want it to be _

_Nothing can change how I feel about you _

_I have been tested_

_Never did I know the meaning of true love _

_Yes, you are the one_

Lucy wiped a tear away.

"I'm such a sap, crying at this. Thanks. I love you, too."

James wanted to kiss her again but he refrained in order to open his gift—a long slender box. Taking the top off, he revealed a black leather necklace with a pink and purple pick attached as a charm. The guitar pick read "Lucy Stone Euro '13."

"That pick, I used that, that's from the first concert after we, you know, after our kiss."

James clipped it around his neck.

"I'll never take it off."

"You don't have to do that. It's just a necklace. I mean…"

"It's a token of your love and whenever I look at it I'll remember the night my dream came true." He fingered the pick slowly.

"The dream to be a star?"

"To kiss you, you dork." He leaned over and embraced her in another kiss. She smacked him on the shoulder, he guessed for calling her a dork, and then accepted his lips on hers. The two ended up falling onto the bed still embraced in each other. James wiped hair from Lucy's forehead and looked into her brown eyes.

"You're beautiful," he whispered.

"I feel like a slug," she admitted.

"What?"

"I haven't felt great all week."

"Is that why you've been avoiding me?" He'd barely spent five minutes with Lucy at any given time that week and it had him worried that maybe their date on Friday would not be going as planned. As it turned out, it didn't, but not in the way James imagined.

"I didn't want to worry you and I also didn't want you to catch whatever it was I had."

"Well, you know, they do say pregnancy is contagious."

"Haha." She smacked his bicep. "You're okay with this?"

"What? Oh, you being pregnant? I guess."

"You guess?"

"I haven't really had time to process it. I thought one day I'd have kids, you know. Just didn't think it'd be this soon."

"Do you—do you not want the baby?" Lucy asked on the verge of tears.

"No, Babe, I do. More than anything. I want to be the father of your child."

"Good news, you are."

The next morning James woke up with his arms around Lucy and her head snuggled into his chest. There was a spot of drool on his arm and while most people might think that's gross he thought it was cute. He had to be careful for he didn't know how morning sickness worked. He didn't want to wake her or make her sick or something. He watched her eyelids flutter and wondered what she dreamed about.

He couldn't believe inside of her was a baby. His baby. A baby he and she made together. A little piece of him. Well, it wasn't much of a baby, yet, just cells or so, but it was a baby, not so much a breathing thing yet, he didn't think, but a baby nonetheless. She didn't look pregnant, not that he knew what a woman should look like at this stage of pregnancy, whatever stage it was that Lucy was at. It had been almost a month and a half since they did have sex, so it couldn't be more than that. He wasn't sure how that worked. This was Logan's territory, not his.

Ugh. His arm tingled from falling asleep. He needed to move it, but he didn't want to wake Lucy. But, if he didn't move his arm soon he didn't know what would happen.

"Mmhmm."

He brushed Lucy's forehead with his free hand as she shifted slightly. Her eyes blinked open. She opened her mouth to say something but before she could she jumped out of bed and made for the bathroom.

"Morning sickness," James thought, "but at least I can move my arm." It hit him he should help her or at the very least be by her side so he ran to the bathroom himself.

After emptying only a small amount into the toilet Lucy turned to James.

"You don't have to follow me every time I have to throw up."

"I feel guilty."

"I had a hand in it, too."

"Yeah, but, you're the only one taking the beating."

Lucy nodded.

"Well, thank you for caring." She went to brush her teeth when she sighed. "I have a recording session today. I don't feel like singing one bit."

"Just call in sick." James rubbed Lucy's back as she squirted toothpaste on her toothbrush.

"He'll ask why," she replied with the toothbrush in her mouth.

"Tell him the truth."

Lucy's eyes widened and she looked ready to slap James.

"Tell him you threw up this morning and your stomach feels funny."

After Lucy finished brushing her teeth the two went back to her room when James's phone rang.

"Hey, where are you?" Logan asked over the line.

"Lucy's."

"Oh. How is she?"

He looked at his girlfriend who lay back down on her bed. He really hoped the pregnancy wasn't going to be a hard one on her.

"She's, well, you know, morning sickness." James sat down next to Lucy and rubbed his thumb over her hand.

"Oh yeah. That can be brutal."

"Yeah, so, I think we're just gonna stay here today and…"

"Yeah, yeah, okay. We're going down to the pool if you want to join us."

"Maybe later."

He hung up his phone and turned to ask Lucy if she wanted to go to the pool, but she had fallen asleep. The look on her face made it hard to disturb her. She needed to call her manager, but maybe he'd do it for her. She was already doing so much for him.

* * *

><p><strong>James and Lucy are the main characters of the main plot, but they aren't the only ones with surprises. Just like the previous this is a full-every-boy's-involved story.<strong>

**Rusher-Driver: Sounds like an interesting story I'll have to check out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**FORMERLY KNOWN AS BIG TIME SECRETS! I changed the title, because this is what I originally wanted to go with and feel this is more apt for what's happening. They aren't secrets. They're surprises. Actually, naming it Big Time Secrets was a mistake. Glad I caught that when I did. Wish I'd seen it sooner.**

* * *

><p>This was it. Well, okay it wasn't <em>it <em>it. James was not telling Gustavo today or Kelly. Or anyone that didn't already know. But, Lucy did have an appointment with her OB/GYN today. They were going to see the baby for the first time. They were going to find out for sure and for certain that a baby was on the way. He trusted the pregnancy tests, but this was from a doctor. The appointment was scheduled during his lunch hour so he had to find a way to get there without Gustavo finding out where he was going and without anyone not named Logan, Kendall, or Carlos finding out it was Lucy and him going to such a place.

"How are you holding up?" Kendall asked as they headed to Rocque Records in the limo that picked them up. The partition between the driver and the passengers was up so hopefully he couldn't hear their topic of conversation.

"Fine," James replied.

"We've barely seen you all weekend, since you know, you dropped that bomb on us," Carlos stated.

"Lucy had a bad case of morning sickness, which really should be renamed 'All Day Sickness.' I just felt better being with her."

"How does it feel? You're going to be a dad!" Logan joined in.

"Is this how it's going to be from now on?" Carlos asked. "You dumping us for Lucy?"

"Dude, he's got a kid on the way." Kendall elbowed his Latino best friend. "He doesn't have time for childish things anymore."

"Hey, nothing's going to change between us. We're just adding someone new to the group."

"You do know she's giving birth to a baby not a full grown adult?" Logan joked.

"Haha, yes, I know."

The limo pulled up to the back of the studio and before anyone knew it the boys were bombarded with cameras and microphones.

"Can you tell us who at the Palmwoods is pregnant?" a lady with fluffy hair asked as flashbulbs went off all around them.

James froze. What? They knew? How could they know? James and Lucy never left the building all weekend. The only time they talked about the situation was in 2I or 2J. Did someone tell? He trusted his friends better than that.

"It's Alexa Vega, isn't it? That's why she moved into the Palm Woods…to be closer to her baby daddy?" a rather short funny looking man stuck his tape recorder in Carlos's face. "She has been looking a little chunkier lately."

"Alexa is not fat!" Carlos raised his arm to punch the guy. Both Logan and Kendall pulled him towards the building to keep him from getting into an altercation.

"We found a box for a home pregnancy test in the trash," the fluffy lady said. "We know you know who it belongs to. Is it Jo? Is that why you two are getting married, Kendall?"

James found his strength and pushed his friends inside to get away from the noise and hubbub.

"How? How?" Was all he could say as they made their way to Gustavo's office.

"Dogs!" Gustavo bellowed once all four of them were in the room with him. "What's this going on outside my studio?"

Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James shared looks but no one said anything.

"There's a rumor that someone at the Palmwoods is having a baby and that's why those animals are outside trying to get a hold of you."

"There are plenty of people at the Palmwoods," Logan laughed nervously. "Could be any of them."

Kendall looked at James and then stepped towards his manager/producer.

"It's Jo. Yeah, that's why we're getting married. She's pregnant with my baby. I'm gonna be a dad."

Gustavo's face turned red. If he was a cartoon character he would have had steam coming out of his ears.

"How can you just—"

"It's not Jo," James interrupted.

"James, it's okay. You don't have to cover for me."

"I'm not." He glanced around hoping no one or nothing was spying on him. This was not how he planned on telling Gustavo. He had sort of hoped Lucy would be with him. But, he did not want Kendall to take the brunt of Gustavo's anger.

"Hey, do you know something about…" Kelly entered the room, immediately shushed by the guys. Carlos, standing the closest to it, closed the door.

"I think _James_ had something he wanted to say," Gustavo said.

"I—I—we found out Friday," he said in a low voice.

"What's that?" Gustavo leaned closer.

Kelly gasped. "Lucy's pregnant?"

James nodded slowly.

Gustavo made to jump at him but was blocked by Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and Kelly.

"Do you know what you're doing to me? To BTR? To your career?" He yelled.

"To you? What is he doing to you?" Kendall asked.

"I'm at a good place in my career. We can more than afford this baby. I've done nothing wrong." James bit his lip. Had he? Sex before marriage. He felt like he was falling far from that guy he'd found in Colorado.

"How are the fans going to react?"

"Shit, Gustavo, is that all you think about?" Kendall bounced back.

"If they're BTR fans they'll be supportive," Carlos spoke up.

James sat down in one of the two empty chairs in the room and put his head in his hands. This was not how this was supposed to go down. This wasn't supposed to happen today. It was all wrong. Everything was wrong.

"It's okay, Jay." Kendall placed a hand on James's shoulder. "Gustavo's not going to kill you." He glared at his manager when mentioning his name.

"I know. Lucy wants to wait to tell everyone and I keep blurting it out."

"I'm," Gustavo cleared his throat. "I'm glad you told me. I'm sorry for getting upset at you."

James's head jerked up at that. Gustavo was apologizing?

"I promise not to tell anyone. Who all knows?"

"The guys, their girlfriends—"

Kendall cleared his throat.

"—Kendall's fiancée, Katie, Mama Knight, and now, you two," James answered.

"OK, just DON'T let this get in the way of making music."

James shook his head. Lucy and the baby came first. But, he wasn't willing to have another fight about the issue so he'd just let it drop.

"Actually, we have an appointment today during lunch."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, it's our first." A slight smile appeared on James's face.

"Aw," Kelly cooed. "You have to let him go."

"I don't have to—" Gustavo stopped when he saw the look on his assistant's face. "All right. You can go, James." He then turned his computer monitor toward the guys. "Now, let's get down to why I've asked you in today." He pressed a button on the computer and five faces appeared on the screen.

"Hi, we're The Backstreet Boys."

The four boys of Big Time Rush shared looks. The Backstreet Boys? They were the best selling boy band of all time. They were the dream every boy band aspired to be.

"And you're Big Time Rush," AJ said.

"We heard about your accident, Carlos, and hope you're doing better," Kevin said.

Carlos blushed at being singled out by a Backstreet Boy.

'I've brought you here today," Gustavo broke in, "because I have a special announcement, which the Boys already know about. Your two groups will be performing together at the Music Video Awards next month."

"We're sorry we couldn't be there in person," Brian spoke, "but as soon as we're in LA we'll get together for rehearsals."

"That's right. I want to use this time for you nine to get to know each other and then we'll work on setting up the performance," Gustavo interjected.

James stared at the screen. Maybe he could talk to Brian about everything that had been going on in his life recently. He was obviously a Christian who could make it work in a boy band, a very successful one at that. But, he didn't really know the guy, so he didn't felt about opening up so much to him. He wasn't even sure he could help him. James wasn't sure what direction he was going in lately. He sighed. For right now he'd just get to know him and let that be that.

.O.

James stomach was in knots and if his stomach was in knots he could only imagine how Lucy felt. Very shortly, as in any minute now, she would be meeting them at Rocque Records so they could attend the doctor's appointment together. He was currently sitting in a recording booth with the rest of the guys while they worked on the vocals to "Windows Down" a song they were considering for their BSBTR collaboration. However, James's mind wasn't on the words he sang but rather how the two were going to get to the OB/GYN without anyone recognizing them.

"The paparazzi!" He blurted out.

"Cut!" Gustavo shouted. "What is that you're blabbing about?"

"N-nothing. Sorry." He couldn't let Lucy get bombarded by the paps. This was the whole reason she wanted to keep the pregnancy a secret for as long as she could. Well, she didn't specify when she'd like to go public, but James figured it would be when she could no longer hide it, though celebrities pushed those boundaries denying it when they had bellies sticking out to there.

"I said, let's start on the second verse!" Gustavo repeated loudly bringing James back into the conversation. "Oh forget it. We'll convene after lunch."

"What am I going to do?" James complained as the group entered the lobby and flung themselves on the white couch.

"Go to your appointment?" Carlos asked.

James glared at him.

"It's not that simple," Logan said. "They don't want anyone finding out about this so they need a way to sneak her in without anyone knowing."

"Put her in a box and James could act like a delivery man," Carlos suggested.

"You think Camille's got some disguises they can use?" Kendall asked Logan.

At that moment Lucy walked in wearing sweatpants and James's hoodie that practically swallowed her whole with her hair tied up on her head in a messy bun, the first time James believed he had seen her hair up.

"Gosh, you look beautiful," James breathed.

"Oh shut-up," she replied sitting down next to him and snuggling into his arms. "I feel like crap. I've been throwing up all morning. Tried to eat a bowl of cereal and up it came. I don't think I'm ever going to like food again."

James rubbed her head. "I wish I could make you feel better."

"It's okay. It's not your fa—no wait, it kinda is." She grinned slyly.

"Aw," Kelly cooed entering the room. Lucy looked at her and then at James.

"She knows, doesn't she?" She sat up. "How does she know? James!"

"I—I—kind of told." He put his hands up in defense as Lucy came at him hitting his shoulders and biceps. "Hey, hey, you weren't here this morning."

"Don't blame James," Kelly said. "We were overrun by paparazzi this morning. They found out someone at The Palmwoods took a pregnancy test."

"You didn't tell _them_?"

"No, no, no, hell no!"

"Good. I guess we better get going." Lucy reluctantly stood up brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes.

"We can't—they'll see—we—us," James sputtered.

"You know, I think," Kendall pulled the hood over Lucy's head, "yeah, you could get away with that."

"Yeah, if I didn't know it was Lucy under there I wouldn't know who it was," Carlos said.

"Gustavo, let James borrow your sweatshirt," Kelly shouted toward his office.

"No!" Gustavo shouted back.

Kelly disappeared into his office and a few minutes later reappeared with Gustavo's white hoodie and his cap.

Everyone laughed at how much the sweatshirt ate James.

"But at least it'll keep people from recognizing me," he pointed out.

.O.

"All right, Miss Stone," the nurse said once Lucy situated herself in the chair at the doctor's office. Once Lucy's belly was exposed, the nurse wiped the cold jelly on it and used the transducer to produce an image of Lucy's uterus. "All right." She moved the wand a bit.

James stared at the image appearing on the screen. It was black and white and fuzzy, hard to make out. Honestly, he had no idea what he was looking at.

"There it is." The nurse pointed to a fuzzy round thing on the screen. "That's your baby."

That thing? But, it looked like…it looked like…well, James wasn't sure what it looked like, but it didn't look like a baby.

"I know it's confusing but it is perfectly normal. Everything looks fine. There's the head." She pointed to one end of the well, James hated thinking it, but to him it was a blob. "And there are its little feet beginning to take shape." James let out a breath. He could sort of make that out. "It appears to be measuring at 9 weeks which would put your due date around September 22." She printed out two pictures and handed them to the couple. "I'll let you have a moment."

Once the nurse left the room after cleaning up Lucy's belly, Lucy sat up and reached for James's hand.

"Our baby has feet," she said softly not taking her eyes off the picture. "This is real. It's really happening."

"There's really a baby inside of you."

"Yep, there's really a baby inside of me. I know it's cliché to cry, but I can't help it. It's so…"

"Real?" James supplied with a smile.

"Real," Lucy repeated.

* * *

><p><strong>I didn't plan for James to tell Gustavo so soon, but as I wrote this it just came out that way and I decided to go with it. Hope you like it.<strong>

**The idea for The Backstreet Boys came from them touring with NKOTB. While daydreaming about this story that idea popped into my head. They aren't going to be big important characters or anything, just something fun I thought I'd add to the story. Also, I don't really like the term baby daddy, but someone working in the rumor mongering celebrity media field would definitely use it.**

**Really long chapter (for me). Maybe I'll get in the habit of making all of them this long. :p**

**I find it funny that Schmidt crushes on Lucy Hale and one of her best friends played his love interest on the show. **


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey," Jo said that night after she and Kendall enjoyed dinner at her place, just the two of them. "I talked to my mom earlier and she said the Van Landingham Estates has openings in June."

"Openings for what?" Kendall asked absent-mindedly as he surfed Scuttlebutter on his phone. Apparently, a lot of people were interested in the pregnancy rumor surrounding the Palmwoods. He had decided the best thing was to not comment on it at all.

"For weddings." She gave him look that said "Duh!"

Kendall looked up from his phone. "June? That's um, this June?"

"Oh, haha, no, sorry, next June…2015."

"Oh."

"I thought I was the one afraid of getting married so soon. Why do you sound scared?" She sat down in the chair next to him.

"I'm not scared."

"OK, keep believing that." Jo patted his cheek and then pecked his lips.

"Are you sure you want to get married in Charlotte? I mean all our friends are here."

"Yeah, but we can fly everyone there… Do you not want to get married in Charlotte?"

"I want to get married wherever you are."

"OK, keep saying corny things like that."

"What?"

Jo patted his knee and went to the living area.

"What?"

She sat down on her couch and gave her fiancé a look.

"Oh." He dropped his phone on the table and followed Jo. "You know I love you," he said in between kisses on her neck after starting out on her lips.

"I know."

"And you know I would marry you right now if that's what you wanted."

"I know."

"But you're the one who wants to wait."

"I know."

"July is a year and a half away."

"Yes."

"And you're okay with that?" He stopped kissing her and looked at her.

"Are you okay with that?"

"If that's what you want."

"June 13th and 19th are the available dates."

"Oh, you want to pick a date now." Kendall sat up straighter. The 13th and the 19th. "That's only six days apart?"

"Yeah, the 19th is a Friday. So, we'll take the 13th. Great, I'll call the venue tomorrow."

Kendall blinked. Wow. That was a bit fast. But, if that's what Jo wanted that's what would happen. He hoped she didn't turn into one of those bridezillas he'd seen on TV. Those girls were Crazy. But, that wasn't Jo. She was nice, normal, and down-to-earth. That's one of the things he loved about her. As her fame grew she stayed the same sweet girl from North Carolina he'd met when she first moved in.

.O.

James sat on the orange couch watching the end of a particularly boring movie with Lucy snuggled into his side asleep when Kendall and Jo entered the apartment.

"How does June 13, 2015 sound to you?" Kendall asked.

"Um, like a date?" James muted the TV and gave his attention to two of his best friends who both sat down on the round coffee table.

"For a wedding?"

"The baby'll be," James did math in his head, "nine months old. Things might not be so hectic for us then." He pulled a photo out of his back pocket and handed it to Jo since Kendall had already seen it. "That's Baby Diamond. There's the head and there's the feet. That's about as much as you can make out right now."

"Well, I think the baby looks just like you," Jo responding making cooing noises at the picture.

James wrinkled his brow. "Um, thanks?"

"How was the appointment?" She asked.

James's face took on a dreamy look. "We got to hear the heartbeat. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. I never heard anything so beautiful in my life."

Jo giggled.

"You'll understand when it's your child."

"I'm very excited for you, a little baby. When's the due date?"

"Sept. 22."

"A fall baby. Oh, this is so exciting!" Jo squealed. Lucy shifted and opened her eyes. "I didn't mean to wake you. We're just talking about the baby."

Lucy yawned. "If you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

"She's not doing well," James admitted once she left the apartment. "She's sick all the time. The doctor said it should be over in a few weeks, but I feel bad about it."

"It's just morning sickness." Jo put a hand on James's arm.

"I know," James sighed. "So, um, you picked a date for the wedding? It doesn't seem real, man. I've got a baby on the way and you're getting married. When did we grow up?" James's attention was taken when he noticed an image on the screen. "Oh my gosh!" He unmuted the TV.

"E! News has discovered that someone at the Palmwoods currently housing the boy band Big Time Rush and their girlfriends: pop princess Lucy Stone, and actresses Jo Taylor, Camille Roberts, and Alexa Vega took a home pregnancy test. Later today this photograph was taken."

"DAMN!" James yelled. The picture that had garnered his attention had reappeared. It was a shot of him and Lucy entering the gynecologist's office. They were wearing their oversized hoodies and hopefully were not recognizable.

"We cannot make out who the young couple is, but speculation has us believe that with the height of the male it is either Big Time Rush's Kendall Knight or James Diamond. A theory going around is that the girl is not dating Kendall or James but rather one of their other bandmates, Carlos Garcia or Logan Mitchell, and they are accompanying the girl to trick paparazzi. Rest assured, fans, E! News is on top of this investigation."

James immediately turned the TV off and began pacing the room.

"What the hell!" He shouted.

Jo stood up and put a hand on his arm.

"It's going to be okay."

"How the hell did they find out? Did they have someone watching every obstetrician's office from here to Seattle? They can't tell who that disguise is, but they know it's one of us. How in the hell do they know? This is so not going the way we planned." He sat down at the kitchen counter looking like he wanted to pull his hair out. "What do we do?"

"First, we calm down," Kendall advised. "That's out there." He pointed to the TV. "There's nothing we can do about that."

James groaned.

"What's the big deal? I mean, you're going to have to eventually tell people anyway."

"You know how the paparazzi are. You know how the media is. How can you tell me this isn't a big deal? This is a huge deal. This is a gigantic freakin' deal. This is—this is…"

"It's going to be okay," Jo reassured.

"You don't have to tell my mom the news."

.O.

"Josephine Taylor, will you tell me what is going on?" Her agent threw a gossip magazine on her desk. On the front cover was the doctor's office picture with the title "Big Time Baby On the Way?"

"That's not me!" Jo protested.

"You two are engaged to be married, yes?"

Kendall, who had been requested to accompany Jo to this sudden meeting with her agent, nodded.

"So, it would be wise to suggest that these baby rumors are about you?"

"What?!" Kendall shouted.

"I'm not pregnant!" Jo shouted at the same time.

"It's not about what really happened. Whatever they think happened happened. This can be good for your career or it can hurt your career."

"Huh?" Both Kendall and Jo asked.

"Good—people love babies. This will garner you plenty of attention from the media. You'll be all over. Love, love, love. Bad—you are pregnant before you're married. That will get some negative attention. Also, it'll take you out of acting for a while. I was just about to suggest you for the female lead in the new Peter Jackson movie."

"But, I'm NOT PREGNANT!" Jo said for what felt like the ten thousandth time.

"What's this about Peter Jackson?" Kendall asked intrigued.

"We'll have to do a press conference about this."

"I'M NOT PREGNANT and even if I was, why would I want to do a press conference? Honestly, do I need to take a pregnancy test to prove it to you?"

"I know you're not," her agent said, "but the rumors are out there."

"So what? We can't stop that and unlike what you did with Jett we are not feeding the fire good publicity or not. Now, what's this about Peter Jackson?"

* * *

><p><strong>Rusher Driver: Thank you for your reviews. I did write the poem myself, not much of a poet so thank you for liking that.<strong>

**And to the guest you asked, does this satisfy?**

**In show-verse I bet the gossip magazines and media would use up every Big Time pun they could come up with.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Mami?" Carlos answered his phone as he hurried to get dressed for morning rehearsal.

"Carlos, how are you?" Before he could answer she kept on, "what's this about a pregnancy? All the girls at work are talking about the rumor that one of your girlfriends is pregnant."

"Mama, I only have one girlfriend."

"Your friends' girlfriends. Tell me, am I going to be a grandma and why did I have to find out from celebrity gossip and not my beautiful son?"

"Alexa's not pregnant. You're not going to be a grandma anytime soon."

"I would love any baby you brought into this world, but I am glad you are waiting until you are married." He shared a look with Alexa who sat on the bed tying her sneakers.

"Uh, yeah. Mama, I gotta go—rehearsal with Gustavo. I'll talk to you later?"

"Have fun, but tell me, is it true?"

"Is what true?" Carlos desperately wanted to get off the phone. He wasn't good with keeping secrets and if he continued talking he was sure to blab.

"That one of you guys's girlfriend is pregnant."

"Um, well, I'm not allowed to say. Look, I gotta go."

"So, it is true! I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Mama!"

"OK, OK, te amo, mi bebe."

"As soon as he tells his mom I'll tell you. Love you, Mama." Carlos tucked his phone into his pocket and then reached his hand out to pull Alexa off the bed. As he went to the studio she was going for a morning workout at the gym. "You know, if my mom's hearing these rumors, James's mom is hearing these rumors."

"I already told my parents."

"You what?"

"I had to! I didn't want them to think it was me and besides, they don't know James or Lucy's parents."

"Talk about blabbing."

"I'm sorry, but they're not gonna tell anyone. They'll just be able to confirm it's not us."

Carlos and Alexa parted ways when he met up with Kendall, Logan, and James in the lobby. It was a few days after the weird meeting with Jo's manager and fortunately, she hadn't mentioned anything else about it to Jo.

"News has hit Minnesota," Carlos announced.

James coughed.

Logan patted his back.

"You knew you were gonna have to tell your mom sometime," Kendall said. "Better to get it over with."

"You know my mom!"

"Why are you so afraid? You're not a kid anymore. You're a successful pop star. You've got a healthy bank account."

"Not until we're 21."

"OK, when you're 21 you get to come into all that money. Until then you get a nice paycheck from Griffin and Lucy's career is doing well. This isn't like you're becoming a teen father."

"All my mom will see is I'm nineteen and not married."

When the boys arrived at the studio James was in a sullen mood. Carlos felt bad for telling but he knew he had to warn him. Fortunately, the paparazzi were not present as they probably figured they were wasting their time trying to get anything out of them. As they entered the building, they all looked around suspiciously in case someone was hiding in the bushes.

Waiting for them in the lobby were the Backstreet Boys: AJ, Brian, Kevin, Howie, and Nick. They all greeted each other, shaking hands. AJ shook Carlos's hand. Brian and James shook hands. Kendall shook Kevin's hand. Logan and Howie shook hands. James and AJ shook hands. Brian shook Kendall's hand. Kevin and Logan shook hands. Nick shook Carlos's hand. Kendall and AJ shook hands. Brian and Logan shook hands. Carlos shook Howie's hand. James shook Nick's hand. AJ and Logan shook hands. Nick shook Kendall's hand. Howie shook James's hand. Carlos and Kevin shook hands. Logan shook hands with Nick. Kendall and Howie shook hands. Kevin shook James's hand. Brian and Carlos shook hands. At some point Howie and Brian shook hands and maybe Kendall and Nick shook hands twice.

"Now that we got that out of the way," Gustavo bellowed, "Into the studio! Now!"

All nine boys scrambled to fit into the now seemingly tiny booth.

"I think that's my foot," Brian.

"Pardon me," Kevin.

"Pardon me," AJ.

"Pardon me," Logan.

"Hey!" James exclaimed.

"Oh sorry," Nick said.

"Dogs!"

Everyone snapped to attention at the sound of Gustavo's voice.

"I don't think we fit in here," Kendall stated.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Gustavo said. "We'll have to do this in the dance studio."

Everyone sighed as they entered a room where they could breathe.

"Is it true?" Howie asked when they stopped for a fifteen minute break. All nine of them sat on the wooden floor downing bottles of water.

"Is what true?" James asked.

Carlos shook his head. He knew exactly what Howie referred to and he assumed James did, too.

"The rumor that one of you is gonna be a dad," Nick joined in.

"Let's see…Kendall just got engaged to Jo Taylor. It's not them. That'd be too obvious. Congratulations, by the way." AJ said. "Alexa Vega just moved into the same apartment building as Carlos. It could be…but no. That's not why she moved in. Logan's not serious enough with Camille Roberts."

"Hey!" Logan exclaimed.

"So that leaves…" AJ pointed a finger at the brunette pretty boy. "James and Lucy Stone!"

.O.

"Lucy Stone!" Her manager, Lou Rudolph, screeched dropping the gossip magazine on his desk. "Please tell me this is not true."

"It's not true," Lucy said unable to look her manager in the eye. Like every other day since the beginning of last week she had rehearsal but didn't feel like being there. She got almost no sleep last night due to this "all day sickness" that consumed her life lately. She couldn't wait for this stage to be over.

"Are you kidding me? Do you think I'm stupid?" Lou stepped closer to Lucy. "That outfit in the picture is what you wore yesterday when you arrived to rehearsal late again!"

"I'm sorry."

"Why, Lucy, why?"

She took a deep breath summoning up a huge amount of strength, trying to turn the brave façade she wore in front of others into something real.

"I'm pregnant and I didn't tell you because you just scheduled my North American tour for the summer and this ruins it."

"I'm—I'm—" Lou fumbled.

"It's James's and we didn't plan this."

"This kid is seriously ruining your career."

"He's not ruining my career."

"First you leave your European tour because you have to make out with the guy and now you might not even start your North American one because he got you pregnant."

"He did not get me pregnant."

"Are you or are you not pregnant?"

"Yes, but I had a part in this, too. It takes two to make a baby. Don't you dare blame all of this on James." Lucy pierced her lips together and ran to the bathroom.

* * *

><p><strong>Logan is serious enough with Camille, but they only just reached second base (not that BSB would know that) so actually, he's just not advanced enough.<strong>

**November 2 1990: Peter Jackson is the producer behind the LoTR movies.**

**Thank you for your ideas, Rusher Driver. I will consider them and perhaps use one or two in my story! I appreciate any suggestions.**

**I'm really going to work on making my chapters longer. I think they should be longer. It's just that I find the ending so satisfying for an ending that I end there.**


	6. Chapter 6

Logan sat in a deck chair by the pool waiting for Camille to get home. Her web series had really taken off and now she was always busy with interviews, photo shoots, and filming. He was really proud of her, but he missed her. The two had been separated for five months due to his break in Colorado and now it seemed they were still separated with her career exploding.

"She said she'd be home by 4:30!" He complained checking his watch to see it read 4:58.

"Have you seen Camille?" Jo sat down in the chair next to Logan. "I want to talk wedding stuff with her."

"You're not getting married for 16 months. What can you possibly discuss?"

"Everything."

"Phew!" Camille exclaimed appearing out of nowhere and kissing Logan on the cheek.

"Don't think you can just waltz in here late and expect me to…" Logan began. Camille smacked him. "What was that for?"

"Shut up, Logan. I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

Suddenly a flash of tanned bodies flew by them and cannonballed into the water with giant splashes soaking Logan, Camille, and Jo. The three of them glared at the two wet bodies in the pool.

"Sorry," Alexa and Carlos said not looking the least bit sorry. Alexa quickly turned to Carlos and dunked him underwater. While down there he ended up pulling Alexa with them.

"Anyway…" Jo pulled a folder from behind her somewhere. "Wedding details." The two females began pouring over the book.

"Women," Logan muttered.

"You know you love us." Camille pinched his cheek.

"Only sometimes."

"Haha, only sometimes," she mocked. "Well, Jo and I need to go over important wedding detail."

"And I need to change out of these wet clothes." Logan sent a look Carlos and Alexa's way.

"Join us in the pool!" Carlos shouted.

Logan shook his head and then headed up to apartment 2J. On the way he bumped, not literally, into Lucy heading into her apartment.

"Hey," he greeted her.

"You're all wet," she pointed out.

"Yeah, some goons down at the pool…"

Lucy laughed slightly. OK, just a little. Well, not really a laugh. All right, maybe Logan thought it was kind of sort of a laugh.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine…" she trailed off. "Ugh, no. My manager found out about the baby. I don't know. He's mad and I don't know. I don't know. He didn't say anything about the tour, but there's just no way I can go on it, you know? I don't know."

"Traveling would be kind of hard, but you're really only not allowed to travel after week 36. Well, plane travel's usually forbidden in the third trimester."

"Are you saying I should do the tour?" Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just saying…well, I mean…" Logan nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"Don't you think performing would be kind of tough?"

Logan shrugged. "I've seen some musicians do it. Not heavy dancing or anything."

"But every night? I'm already so exhausted and I'm only in week 9."

"That's morning sickness, which should go away by, I think, week 14."

"How do you know so much? Do you want to be an obstetrician? Do you want to deliver babies? Aw, do you like babies?" Lucy joked.

"I do want to be a doctor, but I think I'd rather go into surgery."

"Are you trying to send me away? Do you want me to go on tour?" Lucy eyed him curiously.

"I'm giving you options. Choices."

"Are you in cahoots with my manager or something?" She opened her apartment door.

"I don't even know your manager." Logan raised his hands in defense. "Yeah, I think performing a rigorous tour schedule while pregnant will be tough. I just thought maybe you wanted choices."

"I don't know what I want."

Logan didn't know what else to say or do so he patted Lucy on the shoulder and then went to apartment 2J

"She's killing me, Logan," Kendall said. He was sitting at the counter with a glass of milk.

"Jo? Because she's already going on about the wedding?"

Kendall shook his head. "My m—"

"Honey, how about a blue tux for your best man?" Mrs. Knight appeared in the kitchen carrying fabric swatches.

"I haven't even picked my best man yet!" Kendall responded.

"You should hurry up and do that."

"What? I got sixteen months! I don't—"

Logan put an arm around Kendall.

"Hey, let's get out of here."

"But, you're all wet." Kendall shrugged Logan's arm off and brushed the wet area he left behind.

"All right, I'll go change." Logan hurried into the bedroom he shared with Kendall and appeared very shortly after in dry clothes. "If you want to stay dry," he warned, "I'd stay away from the pool area. We've got two Latin maniacs out there."

.O.

Lucy lay down on her couch and thought about what Logan said. She couldn't go on tour, not when she was as big as a house. Could she? No, performing would be a major hassle. She'd be tired all the time and how could she play her guitar? It wouldn't work.

She was surprised she didn't know where James was. Ever since he found out she was pregnant he hadn't left her side, except when one or both had to go to work. It was endearing, but also kind of annoying. However, today he wasn't there and she had to admit she missed him.

"Where are you?" She texted him.

After putting her phone down she placed a hand on her stomach. It hadn't grown any, but it felt hard.

"Business meeting," was the reply from James.

"What does that mean? I just saw Logan in the hall. He's not at some business meeting," she texted back. She didn't care. Her head was starting to hurt and ugh…

"Surprise." James walked in with a bag of food.

Lucy jumped from the couch and ran to the bathroom, throwing up.

"Babe?" James called out. He put the food down on the small round kitchen table and found Lucy in the bathroom.

"The smell," she coughed depositing more into the bowl.

"It's the food. I'll take it to 2J and make you something calmer for lunch. I'm sorry. I didn't even think about it."

"Can you—" she said between heaving "please leave?"

James's face fell.

"You—you don't want me around here?"

"Just the bathroom, please."

"I'll take the food."

Once James left the bathroom Lucy's stomach eased up and she fell back against the wall. She couldn't take much more of this and hoped to high heaven that the morning sickness would end soon.

"Hey, I haven't removed the—" James said when Lucy walked into the dining area. Immediately upon entering something hit her, a strange smell or something she couldn't quite place, and she ran back into the bathroom.

She hated this. She hated this more than anything. This was the worst thing she'd ever experienced. Part of her would have actually preferred having to bear her parents' wrath for becoming a rock musician rather than go through this. Although, when they did find out it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

When nothing came up, Lucy stood by the sink and wiped her mouth. The dark circles under her eyes scared her. This baby was going to kill her before it was all said and done.

"James?" she called as she stepped out of the bathroom.

No response.

She slowly sat down on the living room couch able to breathe a bit better. Her stomach didn't churn. She didn't feel a bit nauseous.

"I left the food with Mama Knight." James re-entered the apartment.

Lucy stomach spun. She placed a hand to her mouth and burped.

"Are you okay?" He sat down next to her and rubbed her back.

She shook her head, burping again.

"I don't think it's the food," she managed. "I th-think it's you." She ran back into the bathroom and dry heaved into the toilet not surprised with how there couldn't be anything left in her stomach.

"Babe, Lucy," James called out. "Don't cry."

"How can I not? My boyfriend makes me sick! You make me sick! I can't stomach being around you…I…"

"Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, we'll get through this."

She quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. This pregnancy was making her such a wimp, crying all the time.

After James left all Lucy did was lay on her couch and watch mindless TV. She had no plans scheduled so she could just mope around feeling sorry for herself. When the TV got too mindless she decided to take a nap in her bed just wanted to sleep off this horrible feeling that had latched onto her.

"James's hoodie," she said to herself upon walking into her bedroom and finding the sweatshirt she wore to the obstetrician on the floor. "If I can't be with James maybe this is the next best thing." She took a deep breath of the Cuda smell practically woven into the material.

Her stomach lurched. Couldn't she just get one minute away from the stupid morning sickness?

"Cuda," she said to herself quickly balling up the hoodie and throwing it into the dark corners of her closet. She took a deep breath of the sweatshirtless room and upon sitting on her bed her stomach calmed down. She smiled weakly at the thought of what was upsetting her then ran into the living room to find her phone to text James.

* * *

><p><strong>There will be more Jo (there was a little in this chapter). As the story goes further down the timeline it'll be easier to fit her in, I think. As for Lucy, this won't be a story of just her throwing up. That's gross. ;)<strong>

**I made a boo-boo in this chapter. Camille doesn't get home from the studio until near 5PM so why would James be bringing Lucy lunch? I fixed it.**


	7. Chapter 7

"What's with the long face?" Mrs. Knight asked when James re-entered the apartment after only just leaving it. "Aren't you eating with Lucy?"

"Now, I'm eating with you." He took a box out of the plastic bag on the counter and opened it to reveal a nice, fancy salad. "I make Lucy sick, so until she gets over this 'morning sickness' thing we won't be spending time together." He stabbed a piece of lettuce with one of the plastic forks in the bag and then before bringing it to his mouth he just laid it back down in the salad. He closed the lid and when he saw Katie enter the room he stuffed the container into her hands, slumping along to his room.

He had closed the door but shortly thereafter it creaked open.

"Do you know how awful it is to hear that you make your pregnant girlfriend throw up?" He said, sitting on his bed, not looking at Katie, but knowing she was the one who walked in sans salad.

"Did she say that?" She sat down on the bed and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, but more importantly, I witnessed it, so I know it's true."

"I'm—I don't know what to say," Katie replied lamely.

"You don't have to say anything." He turned to look at her. "I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe I was so stupid to forget the condom. In seventh months a baby is going to be born and I will be responsible for the little being's life. Don't tell Lucy, but I'm not ready."

"I don't think anyone's ready when it happens the first time, but you've got seven months to prepare."

"Will you help?"

Katie blushed. "It's not like I have any experience with this!"

"You're right. You're only fourteen. What would you know?" James put on his best puppy dog eyes.

"You know I'm always here for you."

"I know. Hey, don't get me wrong; I'm really excited about this, just scared, you know?"

"I know."

"Ja-ames!" Someone in the living area shouted.

Anxious, James left his room with Katie right behind him afraid of what he was going to find.

"They, they, you're gonna wanna see this," Alexa said, standing there wet in her bathing suit with a towel wrapped around her. Carlos, also in his bathing suit, pressed play on the TV.

"E! News has more to report on the pregnancy test found at the Palmwoods the other day. A reporter for E! News has found evidence to lead her to believe the test belongs to none other than pop princess, Lucy Sto…"

Before the TV host finished his sentence James bent over and threw up.

"Honey." Mrs. Knight jumped up and patted his back.

James wiped his mouth and was about to say something when his phone buzzed.

"Good news! It's your Cuda making me sick. Love you."

"What?" Carlos and Alexa asked.

James sat down on the couch holding his head.

"This is too much."

"What?" Everyone asked.

"JAMES!" Kendall and Logan burst into the apartment at that moment.

"I know, I know…"

"What are you going to do?" Logan asked.

"I'm gonna have to call my mom tonight," James sighed the biggest sigh he could manage.

After taking a shower, using Kendall's shampoo, Carlos's body wash, and afterwards Logan's hair gel, and now wearing a set of Kendall's clothes, which were a little tight since James was more muscular than the skinny boy, James headed over to Lucy's apartment passing Buddha Bob coming in to clean the mess on the carpet.

"Is it safe to come in?" He popped his head into the apartment.

"You're not wearing Cuda?"

"I took a shower."

"OK. I think you're good."

James stepped into the apartment and Lucy took a deep breath.

"So far so good," she said.

James stepped closer.

"Still good. Come sit down."

James sat next to his girlfriend on the couch and kissed her.

"I'm glad I don't have to spend time away from you."

"Me too." She leaned over and kissed him again. "You smell different. Uh, not bad, just different. I'm used to you smelling like that man spray all the time."

"I smell good, though, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course." She sniffed James's hair. "Doesn't bother me."

"Looks like I gotta stay away from Cuda for a while."

"If you want to be with me."

"My girlfriend or my man spray? Girlfriend or man spray?"

She bopped his bicep.

"All right, I choose my girlfriend." He kissed her cheek. "I got some bad news."

"They found out."

"E! News, yeah."

"So, this means—"

"We have to tell our parents."

Lucy dropped her head into her hands. James rubbed her back.

"It's going to be okay. Your parents finally accepted you becoming a rocker."

"With Kendall's help."

"And my mom finally accepted me living in LA without her."

"With Kendall's help?"

"No, actually, Mama Knight, Mrs. Garcia, and Mrs. Mitchell helped."

"Why don't we tell them and then have them call my parents?"

"We need to do this ourselves." James took a deep breath. "Let's call my mom first. She'll probably kill me but it'll prepare us for your parents."

Lucy retrieved her laptop from her bedroom and set it up on the coffee table.

"I need to brush my hair? Do I look all right? I should change my clothes."

James pulled Lucy down to sit next to him.

"You look fine. You're beautiful."

"But, I've been sick all day."

"Babe, you look beautiful."

James opened the laptop, turned on the FaceTalk program, and dialed his mom's number.

"Mom?" He greeted her when her face appeared on the screen. He knew she'd drop whatever she was doing to talk to him and he knew she'd recognize Lucy's number, so he had nothing to worry about in that regard.

"Baby?" She looked like she was sitting in her home office.

"Hey, Mrs. Diamond." Lucy appeared on the screen.

"Oh my gosh!" Mrs. Diamond's hands went to her mouth. "It's true."

"Yes," Lucy replied.

"Mom, Lucy's pregnant," James stated matter-of-factly. "I didn't want to tell you this way."

"I'm too young to be a grandma. You're only nineteen and not married!"

"I'm 21," Lucy said.

"Still not married," Mrs. Diamond contradicted.

"Mom."

"OK, I'm—I'm—should I be happy for you? I mean…"

"We didn't plan this," Lucy spoke, "but I think we're both excited."

"Well, all right, but I don't want to be called grandma. I'm too young to be a grandma."

James let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. His mom was okay with it. She wasn't going to kill them.

"Thanks, Mom."

"I love you, Jamie. I'll love my grandchild no matter what. And well, I'd like to get to know Lucy since she's going to be the mother of my grandchild."

James had been afraid his mother would not like Lucy for she was taking his only child away from her, but she seemed okay with it when they first discussed the relationship after she saw the kiss on the Tween Choice Awards. She had gotten together with the Mitchells and Garcias to watch their sons' first awards show.

"You're always doing things to surprise me," she finished.

"We do our best." James managed a smile. "Mom, if the press, paparazzi, whoever, contacts you about this you cannot comment. We're already getting some attention and thanks to the dilweed who broke Lucy's name we're bound to get more. Life isn't fair for Lucy doesn't deserve this." He rubbed Lucy's right hand.

"Neither do you, Babe." Lucy squeezed James's hand.

"Look, Mom, you have to keep quiet on this. News has broken, but we are not ready to go public."

"I—I—you're an adult now and making your own life. As a parent you always hope your child waits, but well, then this happens," Mrs. Diamond sighed.

"Mom, you have to…"

"I'm not going to tell anyone, James. You can trust me."

"I know. I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, Baby. Everything's going to be okay."

"I know."

"I'm here for you two, you know that?"

"Thank you, Mrs. Diamond."

"Thanks, Mom."

"I'd love to sit and chat, but I've got a meeting to attend. I'll call you later and we can discuss me making a trip to visit you. I need to get to know my future daughter-in-law."

When Mrs. Diamond's face disappeared from the screen James and Lucy shared a look.

"Oh no, don't get any ideas."

"Aw, but we're having a baby togeth—"

"That's exactly it, James. I don't want to get married just because we're having a baby and I especially don't want to get married while being pregnant. Do I look pregnant to you because your mom caught on pretty well just by seeing my face that I am. Oh my gosh, is my face bloated?" Lucy poked her cheeks. "Do I have a fat face?"

"You have a very loveable, kissable face," James replied between kisses to said face. "I can't believe my mom was so chill. Are you sure we dialed the right number? That was my mom, wasn't it?"

"If your mom is one to have meetings at 7 o'clock at night."

"That she is. Brooke Diamond Cosmetics is her life."

"I—I guess we have to call my parents now."

James stopped kissing Lucy and reached for her hand.

"I'm right here. It's going to be okay."

"You don't know my parents."

James had met Lucy's parents once on that date thing she went on with Kendall. They seemed very strict, uptight, and conservative, so he figured they weren't going to be happy about the news sprung on them.

"It doesn't matter. You have me, my mom, Mama Knight, and the guys. We're here for you no matter what happens with your parents."

Lucy picked up her cell phone and pressed a button.

"I can't do this," she admitted. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"You're not going to be sick." James took the phone from her and found the Stones number in Lucy's directory. "Take a deep breath. I thought my mom was going to kill us and she seems thrilled. Your parents may be angry with you, but they'll be even angrier when they find out from another source. Now that people are talking there's no telling who, what, or when that will be." He put the phone up to his ear. "Wouldn't it be better if we did this via vid—hey, Mrs. Stone!"

"Who is this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry for not introducing myself. This is James, Lucy's boyfriend."

"Yes, I thought this was Lucy's number but didn't expect such a male voice. Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. Lucy just has something she wants to talk to you about." He put the phone on speaker as Mrs. Stone continued talking.

"You're not getting married are you? She needs to settle down and have a nice career before she gets married. Did you put me on speaker phone? Why did you put me on speaker phone? Lucille?"

"Hi, Mom," Lucy said hesitantly. "No one's getting married. Well, actually Kendall is but he's marrying Jo, so nothing that involves us."

"Kendall's the nice boy who went on the double date with us, isn't he? I enjoyed his company, well, except that he plays in a rock and roll band. You know how I feel about that."

"I know, Mom." Lucy gritted her teeth. "Mom, can you get Dad? I need to talk to him, too."

"John! Lucy's on the phone! Do I need to put this on speakerphone, too? How do I do that? What? Press what? Lucille?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"I think you did it, John."

"Hi, Lucille."

"Hi, Dad." Lucy looked at James.

"Hi, Mr. Stone."

"Hello, um—"

"James, sir."

"Right, right. How are you, James?"

"Good. Lucille—I mean Lucy has something to tell you."

"What is it, dear?" Her mother asked.

"Mom, Dad," Lucy took a deep breath, tears pooling in her eyes. James gripped her hand harder. "Mom, Dad, I'm pregnant."

"What?" Both parents exclaim.

"It's yours, James?" Mr. Stone asked.

"Yes, sir."

"I knew something like this was going to happen. Lucille, the rock and roll lifestyle will only lead you down a path of degradation and sin."

"Mom!"

"This is exactly why I was against you staying in Los Angeles and becoming a rock musician," her dad said.

"What are you going to do?" Her mom asked.

"Have a baby? Be a mother? I'm keeping the baby and raising it."

"I don't think that's wise," Mrs. Stone said.

"I don't care what you think. I'm 21. I've got a good musical career and James's band is doing fairly well."

"You two are both rockers. That is not a stable living condition for anyone. You can't raise a baby there!" Mr. Stone complained. She gasped when James mentioned the amount of money he'd be coming into when he turned 21. "You're still just a child, James."

"I'm 19, ma'am."

"A teenager with his head in the clouds. I am deeply disappointed in both of you," she said.

"It's not James's fault."

"It takes two to tango," Lucy's dad replied.

"Mom, Dad, do you love me?"

"Of course we love you, Lucille. That's a silly question to ask," her mother answered. "We just didn't want this for you."

"Well, it's happening. You two are going to be grandparents whether you like it or not."

"Oh, Lucille."

"Don't 'oh, Lucille" me, Mom."

"You will not talk to your mother that way."

"No, sir, you will not talk to Lucy that way. She is a very successful singer-songwriter. You should be proud of her. She's had two top 40 hits. And she's a very beautiful woman. I love her and she is having my baby. If you can't handle that maybe you don't deserve her."

"Well!" Mrs. Stone exclaimed.

"James is right. If you can't handle this you don't deserve me." Lucy pressed the end button on her phone. That's when the tears decided to fall. James pulled her into a hug. "Did I just cut my parents off?"

"I don't think so. I think they just need to take some time to get used to the news. They're still your parents and they still love you."

* * *

><p><strong>Debjohns: Thanks for the suggestion!<strong>

**(If you read **_**Big Time Baby**_** and are wondering where that story is, I haven't forgotten it, I just got completely wrapped up in this one).**


	8. Chapter 8

A few weeks later after a rigorous practice with the Backstreet Boys for the Music Video Awards coming up in less than a week, Carlos met his girlfriend for dinner. Afterwards they got ice cream cones and enjoyed them together at Palmwoods Park under the moonlight.

"Carlos," Alexa patted the spot on the bench next to her as she licked her chocolate cone. "I've got something to tell you."

Happy-go-lucky Carlos sat down next to her licking away at his strawberry cone.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" Carlos stopped licking his cone.

"With those big brown eyes."

"But, they're the only eyes I have."

"And I love 'em." She held his gaze with her brown eyes. "There's no easy way to say this."

"Oh my gosh, you're breaking up with me!" Carlos exclaimed.

"No."

"Good. Oh, I know!" He bounced in his seat. "You've been cast as part of a popular book-to-film series and will be spending three years in New Zealand!"

Alexa creased her brow. "No." She put up a hand. "Stop guessing. I'll just tell you." With her free hand she grabbed his free hand. "I've been assigned a mission leaving in about a month."

"OK?"

"I'll be in Europe. For three months. Maybe longer."

"Three months!" Carlos's eyebrows darted toward his hairline and he almost dropped his cone.

"Yeah. I can't say no. I…don't…want to say no." She looked away. "But, hey, it's not three years, it's not New Zealand, and I have no idea what you meant there."

"Long story—Jo—Kendall, um, anyway…when do you have to leave?" He ignored the ice cream melting down his hand.

"No exact date has been given, yet, but it won't be for about a month."

"So you'll still be able to see us perform at the MVAs?"

"Absolutely." She smiled.

"Well, all right," Carlos sighed. "I don't like this, but it is what it is. You'll call every night, right?"

The smile fell off Alexa's face. "You know I can't. I can't do anything that could give anything away."

"But, we always talk. Every day."

"Except when I'm on a mission. You know that."

Carlos bowed his head. "I know."

"Chin up. It's just three months."

"I know." Carlos looked at her. "Well, we got one month until you leave so we will do everything you want to do." He grabbed Alexa's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Well, you know what I'd first like to do?" She looked at her sticky hand with ice cream all over it.

"We'll get to that, but first let's wash our hands."

Alexa giggled as Carlos pulled her away.

.O.

"And 5, 6, 7, 8," Mr. X counted off at rehearsal the next morning. "Carlos, Carlos, Carlos," he sighed.

"Sorry!" Carlos bent down to tie his shoe.

"You've been distracted all day," Kendall said. "Are you okay?"

Standing up, Carlos bumped into Brian.

"Yeah," he pulled Kendall away from the guys. "Alexa got called on another mission."

"Yeah, she gets those all the time."

"But, this time she'll be gone for three months in Europe!"

"Hey, not until you have your girlfriend leave you for three years do you have the right to complain."

Carlos rolled his eyes. It wasn't like Jo was actually gone for the full three years, but of course, Kendall hadn't known that was going to happen when she originally left.

"This is X-cruciating!" Mr. X complained getting in Carlos and Kendall's faces.

They went through the dance number again. Big Time Rush was going to start with "I Want it That Way" and then the Backstreet Boys were going to enter with "Windows Down" and then it was going to be something of a lyrical battle between the two until they ended on the song "Everybody." Don't get confused. Yes, they were singing each other's songs, but the guys liked it and it sounded cool.

"CARLOS!" Everyone yelled when he either bumped into them or found himself in the wrong spot.

"We need an X-break." And with that Mr. X walked out of the room.

"Sorry." Carlos looked sheepish.

"When we resume," Gustavo started in his usual loud voice, "Dogs, I want you to get your heads out of the clouds. Dress rehearsal is tomorrow. You should be able to do this in your sleep."

"Is everything okay?" James asked.

"You're not having problems with Alexa, are you?" Logan asked.

"She's going away for three months," he admitted.

"You've dealt with this before," Kendall said.

"Where's she going?" Howie asked, handing two bottles of water to the BTR guys. Kevin appeared with the other two.

"Filming in Europe," Carlos lied. Well, she was going to Europe, so that wasn't a lie. He turned back to Logan, James, and Kendall. "I know, but not this long. And when we're gone that long she's able to visit. She's not able to visit this time."

"Why don't you just visit her?" Kevin suggested.

"Not allowed."

"What are you afraid of?" Logan asked.

"I'm not afraid of anything. I'm just gonna miss her, is that so wrong?" He took a long gulp of his water.

"Well, you need to get your head in the game before Gustavo kills us," Kendall said.

"Alexa is Carlos's first girlfriend," James informed Howie and Kevin.

Carlos made a face. This wasn't because she was his first. Maybe, but he knew it was more than that. He knew it was true love. But, he never really experienced love before so how did he know if it was true? It felt true. Just the thought of her leaving made his heart break and he had almost an entire month before she had to go.

"Cheer up, Buddy," James sat down on the hard dance floor next to Carlos who had absentmindedly sat down himself. "We've got the MVAs in two days."

"We're up for three awards." Logan sat down with them.

"Best Tour, Best Music Video for 'We Are,' and Best Live Performance for Tween Choice Awards 2013," Kendall added walking around the three instead of sitting down.

"You're performing with us," Howie stated.

"And your girl's not leaving for a month," James finished.

"Whose girl's not leaving for a month?" Nick asked, walking up to the group with Brian and AJ behind him.

Carlos raised his hand. "Alexa's leaving for a three month stay in Europe." He really didn't want to talk about it. It made him miss her even more even though she hadn't left yet.

"X-break is X-over," Mr. X exclaimed suddenly appearing in the room. "Whatever was on your mind before has now x-vanished and we are only working on the performance for Friday's show."

.O.

Before Carlos knew it they were onstage at the Nokia Theater. The award for Best Rock Duo/Group had just been given out, well pretend given out as this was just the dress rehearsal, and as Sarah Hyland and Shay Mitchell walked off the stage the boys walked on in total darkness.

Kendall began the intro to the song and Carlos stood in the back with James. A spotlight was supposed to shine first on Kendall and then the other three got their own. But, the light didn't come on. Kendall kept singing. All four boys were supposed to get into a straight line right before the Backstreet Boys came onstage, but since none of the spotlights came on they couldn't see and ended up bumping into each other.

Once they got the spotlight figured out they started the number again. This time, however, Carlos's mike didn't work.

"Aarrgghh!" He screamed in frustration.

"You know what they say about a bad dress rehearsal," Logan said. He put his arm up to stop Carlos from throwing his microphone across the stage.

"Can we take a break?" Kendall suggested to the stage manager.

"No!" She stamped her foot. "We're not stopping until we get this right."

"Finally!" Carlos said to himself as they headed to their dressing room having gone through three or four, he couldn't remember, runs each one ending with some mishap or another.

"A bad dress rehearsal foretells a good opening night," Logan stated. "Given this isn't the theater, but it is a stage, and this was our dress rehearsal before our real performance tomorrow."

"Well, then, we're going to have an amazing performance tomorrow," Carlos said with a big sigh.

"It's not your fault," Kendall said patting him on the back.

"I made the most mistakes. I'm the one who knocked over the Backstreet Boys, whose mic didn't work, whose earpiece fell out, and who made us go through the routine a million times until we got it right."

"Stop being so hard on yourself," Kendall continued. "You didn't break the spotlight or cause James to trip over his shoelace."

"Whatever." Carlos flopped down on the couch.

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Kendall sat down next to him.

"Yeah, I almost knocked out the assistant stage manager when I tripped over my shoelace." James sat on the other side of Carlos. "At least you didn't do anything like that."

"Don't you remember? I knocked over all five Backstreet Boys."

"Yeah, but none of them got hurt," Logan said.

"And they forgave you," Kendall added. "Come on, let's go home and…" Kendall paused.

"Hockey?" James suggested.

"Movie?" Logan brought up.

"I think I'd like to spend the evening with Alexa, if you don't mind," Carlos said.

"Yeah, I haven't seen Lucy all day," James said. "I've been here. With you guys."

"We could go hang out with Jo and Camille," Logan suggested.

"So, this is us now, separating for our girls instead of hanging with the guys," Kendall complained.

"Alexa's leaving in a month. I'll have all the time to hang out with you then," Carlos said.

"Lucy's pregnant," James stated.

"You're marrying Jo, what does that say?" Logan laughed.

Carlos sighed loudly as he entered Alexa's apartment that evening.

"How was the dress rehearsal?" She asked sitting next to him when he slumped onto the couch.

Carlos sighed again.

"That bad, huh?" She put one on his shoulder and ran the other through his hair.

"I was a total screw-up."

"I don't believe that."

"Why?"

"I don't date screw-ups." She kissed Carlos on the cheek. "You're a great singer and dancer. Everyone has bad days. Tomorrow is a new one."

Carlos sighed again.

"All right." Alexa pulled Carlos to his feet. "You're not gonna sit here and wallow in your self-pity. You've got nothing to be pitiful about."

"Where are we going?" Carlos asked as Alexa dragged him out the door.

"We're going to drown your sorrows…well, you're too young to drink…we'll think of something."

Carlos smiled. He loved hanging out with Alexa. It didn't matter what they did, just being with her was…it made up for all the bad stuff.

The next morning Carlos awoke feeling bloated. What the heck did he eat last night? He rubbed his face with his left hand trying to remember what happened when something gold shone in his eyes.

"Oh…my…gosh…" he glanced over at Alexa asleep with the covers bundled up to her chin.

Feeling like he wanted to puke, the bloated feeling was turning into indigestion; he turned over and spotted a piece of paper lying underneath one of his Chucks.

The only thing he could make out was "iage License."

* * *

><p><strong>I know you all ask for this and for that. I can give you this and that, but I can't give it to you all at once so patience. I feel bad I can't give it to you all at once, but that would be one messy story.<strong>

**Rusher-driver: Interesting ideas. I'll consider them. Thank you for your review.**


	9. Chapter 9

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Lucy's scream just about knocked James off the stool he was sitting on in an awesome black suit with a maroon dress shirt with the collar unbuttoned waiting for his girlfriend to get ready so they could make their appearance at the Music Video Awards that night along with the rest of Big Time Rush and their girlfriends and fiancée as Kendall always reminded them.

"Are you okay?" James rushed into Lucy's bedroom almost running into a doorjam to find her standing in front of her full length mirror with a black leather dress half on-half off.

"I can't wear this," she moaned.

"I think it looks beautiful on you." He walked over and reached for the zipper. "Just need to—"

"No." Lucy took James's hands and led them away from her dress. "Look at me." A tear escaped down her cheek. "I have a pooch." She jammed her palm into her eye. "Dammit, stupid emotions."

"It's okay. You're hormonal."

"I. Am. Not. Hormonal." She emphasized each word with a punch to James's chest.

"OK, you're not hormonal."

"No, I'm just…showing." She pointed to the previously complained about pooch.

"You're not showing. No one can tell you're pregnant."

"Are you saying I'm fat?" She punched James again this time on the bicep.

"No, no, you're not fat. You're beautiful. You're gorgeous. You're—"

"Shut up."

"Where's my tough little Lucy who doesn't care what others think about her?"

Lucy turned to look at James.

"You really think that?"

"Lucy, tonight's going to be hard. It's your—our first public appearance since E! started the rumor."

"D-don't say anything."

James wrapped his arms around Lucy. "I'm not going to. I hate this as much as you do."

"What? Having a baby?"

"No, paparazzi." He nestled his chin into her hair.

"You're messing up my hair." She had gone earlier that day to get red extensions put in since her original dye job was growing out. She had read from a few places that dying one's hair while pregnant was a no-no. Other sources said it was okay. She didn't know what to believe so she went with the safe alternative.

"That's supposed to be my line," James joked. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. "We're meeting everyone in five minutes. Think you can be ready?"

"Zip me up." She sucked in her stomach as James worked on the zipper. "Just gotta fix my makeup and put on my shoes." She already did her makeup before she got dressed, but now with the tears…

"I think you look fine."

"Don't argue with a woman about the state of her makeup." With that she disappeared into her bathroom.

Ten minutes later she walked into the living room with fresh makeup, the leather dress, and her black leather boots.

"You are one hot…whoo…"

"Stop trying to flatter me."

"Fl-flatter you? You are the hottest thing in the world."

"I certainly don't feel like it right now." She adjusted the tight dress around her stomach. "Let's just get this over with." She grabbed James and pulled him out the door.

"Well, this is going to be a fun night," James muttered.

The ride to the Nokia Theater was a loud one with eight of them crammed into a stretch limo. James noticed the only two who weren't being loud were Carlos and Alexa. He elbowed Carlos, who sat next to him, in the side.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine," Carlos replied not looking at James.

James shrugged him off and turned back to everyone else who was having a good time. They passed around wine glasses filled with ginger ale. With only two people old enough to drink and one of them being pregnant, they weren't allowed alcohol. Even with the tension regarding paparazzi there was a definite party atmosphere in the limousine.

The limo pulled up to the red carpet at L.A. Live. Flashbulbs were going off everywhere. Well, they weren't technically bulbs anymore, but you get the idea. James reached for Lucy's hand.

"We'll go first," Kendall said. The door to the limo opened and Jo stepped out with Kendall right behind her. They were immediately swallowed up by reporters and cameras undoubtedly asking them about their engagement and hopefully (James crossed his fingers) not about Lucy's pregnancy. Jo flashed her left hand showing off her engagement ring.

Logan and Camille exited the limo next. The media wasn't as interested in them, but they should be curious about Camille's web series. That left Carlos, Alexa, James, and Lucy in the car.

"They can't possibly know," Alexa whispered to Carlos loud enough for James to catch it.

"Know what?" James asked.

"N-nothing," Carlos replied. He and Alexa timidly reached for each other's hands and stepped out leaving James and Lucy alone.

"This is it," Lucy said with a nervous laugh.

"Just grin and bear it," James said with an equally nervous smile. He took his right foot and placed it outside the limo. "OK," he said to himself, "just get the left foot out." Slowly, his left foot followed his right foot and he scooted himself out of the limo. Before he did anything else he leaned back into the car and reached a hand to Lucy. Anxiously, she took it.

"There they are!" Someone exclaimed as soon as Lucy's head emerged from the limo. Flashes came left and right along with microphones and tape recorders.

"Is the news true?" A woman asked. "Are you two on your way to becoming parents?"

"Your fans are dying to find out," another woman added.

James shook his head. He was planning on not even acknowledging those questions. Did shaking his head count?

"How do you feel?" the first woman asked Lucy.

"Fine?" She responded.

"I hear you two are up against each other for an award tonight," she continued.

James waved to the camera that was for some network entertainment show.

"We are?" He asked.

"Yes, that would be your band's nomination. Your performance at the 2013 Tween Choice Awards is up against Lucy Stone's performance at the 2013 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade."

"I hope you win," James said.

"I hope you win," Lucy repeated. "Oh my gosh," she whispered as they walked away. "Do we really sound that cheesy?"

"Lay on the cheese, Babe, if it gets their attention off you know." James squeezed Lucy close to his side.

More pictures were taken and questions were asked. Most reporters asked if Lucy was pregnant but when it appeared the couple wasn't going to answer they switched to other topics like Jo and Kendall's engagement, which that couple was happy to talk about, as well as the upcoming performance with the Backstreet Boys and anything coming up for both the band and Lucy's music, which included the tour she was still scheduled to go on. Finally, they made it to the band's dressing room.

"Phew," Lucy let out as she unzipped her dress.

"Hey!" Kendall exclaimed waving his arms at the dress.

"I'm not taking it off." Lucy made a face. "I just need to breath."

"Why did you wear something so tight anyway?" James asked sitting next to his girlfriend on the rough black leather couch. "I mean, not that you don't look hot in it or anything."

"This is me. If I wear something flowy and giving with room they'll talk."

"But if you wear that they see the 'pouch' and talk," James said with exaggerated air quotes.

"Pooch," Lucy corrected. "I'm not a kangaroo."

"Whatever."

"Why don't you just tell them?" Jo suggested. "They're going to talk either way."

"When you get pregnant you'll understand. It's not their news to know. It's something private and…I like keeping it just among close friends right now." Lucy shrugged. "You know what it's like not having any privacy."

"Let's go get our seats," Kendall said to Jo. He looked at James and Lucy before leaving the room. Carlos, Alexa, Logan, and Camille hadn't come to the dressing room so that left them alone.

"Are you okay?" James rubbed Lucy's shoulders.

"I'm fine." She turned to look at him. "We made it through our first batch of paps."

"I think we should do it."

"Do what?"

"What Jo said. Maybe if we get the news out the paparazzi won't be so bad."

"Of course not. It's not your belly they'll be taking pictures of." Lucy glared at him.

"OK, OK, it was just a suggestion." He laughed when Lucy's stomach gurgled. "Would you like something to eat?" He pointed to a table full of food Carlos requested like corn dogs and chicken nuggets. Real healthy stuff, you know.

"If I eat I think I'll be sick." Lucy's morning sickness had really subsided, thank heavens, but there were still traces lingering here and there.

"Well, if you do need anything we can always come back here during the show."

"If we don't get up from our seats," Kendall said to the group after Lucy and James had arrived at their seats in the Nokia Theater (with Lucy's dress zipped up!), "we will have no drama like last time. So, you hear me? Stay put. No going to look for secret rooms of goo or crazy men wanting to take revenge on the world through macaroni."

"But, what about when we have to change for our performance?" James asked with a sly smile earning a bop in the arm from Kendall who had to lean over Jo and Lucy to do so.

"You know, the last award show was pretty special," Alexa said to Carlos. "You know, when we first met and all."

"Yeah, and this one is…"

"Is what?" James asked leaning closer to Carlos, who sat on his other side.

"N-nothing," Carlos clammed up.

Big Time Rush was up for three awards and Lucy was up for two, Best Pop Female Artist and Best Pop Live Performance. Only two of those awards would be given out before BTR's performance: Best Pop Music Video and Best Pop Female Artist.

"And the winner for Best Pop Music Video is…" Cameron Boyce said as Nick Merico ripped open the card.

"One Direction for 'Story of My Life!'" They both read causing our group of eight to groan loudly.

"We still have two categories," Kendall informed them.

"I wanna win a rocket man," James whined. He looked over at Carlos who would usually whine it with him, but Carlos and Alexa were discussing something softly.

After a few awards and a performance by Imagine Dragons Lucy squirmed in her seat.

"Are you okay?" James whispered.

"I have to use the bathroom," 'she informed him.

"Can you hold it? Your category is…" James began but was interrupted by

"And the winner for Best Pop Female is…." Pitbull opened the card in front of him. "Lucy Stone!"

"Now, I have to go onstage and give a thank you speech while trying to hold my pee," she whispered to James. She smiled when he poked her in the cheek to remind her she was on camera.

James laughed as Lucy made her way to the stage hurrying up the stairs and taking the rocket man trophy from Pitbull.

"This is for the fans!" She exclaimed. "Thank you so much. I also want to thank my boyfriend, James Diamond, for being my rock, and my producer/manager for well, being my manager and helping make my music better. Thank you all!" And then she hurried off stage presumably to the restroom.

"She should be thanking me," Kendall jokingly grumbled earning a harsh glare from Jo. "I mean, uh, um, go Lucy! No, um…" Jo shook her head and playfully slapped Kendall on the backside of his head. "I love you?"

"Darn right."

"Lucy?" James called out once the group ended up backstage to get ready for their performance. "Answer me!" He began to panic. She hadn't returned to her seat after visiting the restroom.

"Dude, it's Lucy. She's all right," Logan said putting a hand on James's shoulder.

Kendall opened the door to their dressing room to reveal Lucy Stone with her dress unzipped asleep on the couch. Her trophy lay haphazardly on the floor as if it fell from her grasp.

"Luce?" James shook her shoulder gently.

"Mmm," she mumbled.

"Ugh," someone moaned. James looked up to see Carlos turning green at the sight of the food table.

"Are you okay?" Kendall asked when Carlos ran to the garbage can and threw up.

"He—we kinda went a little overboard last night. He was really depressed about the dress rehearsal and he's underage so we couldn't drink his sorrows away so we ate them away," Alexa explained. "Well, he did most of the eating." She rubbed Carlos's back.

"I'm…okay…" he sat down and took his head out of the can. "I can perform. I promise."

"Oh gosh!" Lucy jumped up from the couch and stole the garbage can from Carlos emptying her stomach into it. She sat down next to him looking apologetic and holding her nose. Alexa rubbed her back, too, since she was sitting right there.

"I can stay back here with the sick kids while you guys go on stage," Alexa suggested. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"I'm not sick. The smell of Carlos's puke makes my stomach churn."

"I can perform!" Carlos insisted.

"Well, we can get this out of here." James grabbed the garbage can and placed it outside the room, closing the door behind him. "Smell better?"

"Thanks, Babe."

"You can't leave," James said sitting down beside Lucy and taking over the back rubbing. "If you win again how do we explain why you suddenly left?"

"Rumors will be rumors," she muttered. "I wasn't planning on leaving. I'm fine, really."

"Me, too," Carlos said.

"Five minutes," a stagehand announced sticking her head in the door.

"We've got plenty of time," Kendall said.

"OK fine." Alexa stood up and offered a hand to Carlos. "I'm not gonna argue with you. If you get sick on stage that's your own fault."

"Thank you."

Brian, Logan, AJ, Carlos, Howie, Kendall, Kevin, James, and Nick stood on stage in a straight line with their left fists pumped in the air as the final note of "Everybody" rang through the theater. They ran off stage giving each other high fives and fist bumps.

"How was it performing together?" the same woman who first interrogated James and Lucy stepped up with a microphone and her cameraman.

"It was fun," Logan said.

"We should do it again sometime," Brian added.

"Any confirmation on the rumor that both groups will be touring together this summer?"

James paled. He certainly hadn't heard that before.

"We haven't heard anything like that," Kendall said. The Backstreet Boys shook their heads.

"I think for now, it's just a rumor," AJ cleared up. "Maybe sometime in the future, though?"

"How are you feeling, Carlos?" She asked

"Wh-what?" He looked around nervous.

"We heard Alexa Vega's going to be spending the next few months in Europe."

"Wh-what?"

"Didn't you say she was filming a movie?" Kevin asked.

"Oh yeah, that. Yeah, well, obviously I'll miss her."

"With one band member engaged and another expecting a baby,"

"What?" James interrupted. "That's—that's—you have no confirmation—you can't just—"

Kendall put a hand on James's shoulder to calm him down.

"Have you or Logan given any consideration to taking the next step?" the interviewer went on ignoring James.

"M-me and C-Carlos?" Logan wagged his finger back and forth between him and said friend.

"Not together, not that there's anything wrong with that. With your girlfriends?"

"No!" Carlos exclaimed. "We're not ready for that just yet."

"Are you okay?" Logan asked Carlos as they parted ways with the reporter and BSB on their way to their dressing room to change so they could go back out and sit through the anticipation of the two remaining categories they were nominated for.

"Why does everyone keep asking me?" Carlos threw his hands in the air.

"Because you were sick before we went onstage," Kendall answered.

"Oh yeah."

The rest of the night, surprisingly, went as planned. They didn't win Best Live Performance. But, they did win Best Tour!

"We're actually pretty surprised at that since there have been so many amazingly awesome tours this year," James said snuggling with Lucy in her bed later that night. Both were invited to the Pop Tiger After Party, but Lucy didn't feel up to attending so she and James went back to her apartment while Kendall, Jo, Logan, and Camille attended the party. Carlos was still feeling queasy from overeating the night before so Alexa took him home.

"I saw one of your concerts. It was…thrilling. Not to mention all the screaming fans."

"Yeah, we do have a lot of those don't we," James sighed.

Lucy laughed.

"Hey, you got yours, too."

"Yeah, yeah." She snuggled into James's chest. "Not like you."

"I don't need screaming fans." He placed his hand over her tiny belly. "I have you."

"Cheeseball," Lucy muttered. She put her hands on top of his slowly running her fingers over his.

Closing his eyes, James thought about the events of the day. It was exciting and the couple braved their first real bout with paparazzi. They had to encounter paparazzi at their studios, but it wasn't the same. Lucy won a rocket man for best pop female artist and Big Time Rush won one for best tour. Things looked good for both careers. But, what was up with Carlos and Alexa?

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you, Rusher-Driver, for your review!<strong>

**Curiosity wins out. In Big Time Hollywood Fever what did they put on James to make him orange?**

**There is a lot of throwing up in this story. I promise it won't be like this forever. I don't even intend it. It just writes itself.**

**In Big Time Blogger to some question in preparing for Deke James gives the answer "Golden Shoes." They get golden shoes in Big Time Cartoon. Maybe the question was what does Carlos want the most or something like that, lol.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Warning: Mild language in this chapter.**

Sitting in front of her laptop in her bedroom, Katie was supposed to be doing research for her history report. Instead, something led her to check out Scuttlebutter. She had an account, but rarely posted as she felt she didn't have anything interesting to say. No one cared about her. They just cared about what they could get from her—Kendall, Carlos, James, or Logan.

The Music Video Awards had taken place the night before and she knew there would be a lot of buzz about that on Scuttlebutter. Unlike the Tween Choice Awards she hadn't been anxious to attend. The TCAs was about Austin Mahone. She got to meet him. She even started a texting relationship with him. But, that slowed down and there was no one she really cared to meet at the moment. She had a lot going on in her life anyway, with Kendall's engagement and James's baby as well as starting high school.

No longer did she attend the Palmwoods school. The only acting thing she did was the laundry detergent commercial back when she was ten and since she didn't want to do anything else she wasn't allowed to be a part of the ASPA so she had to go to regular school. It was fine with her except for two things: girls giddy about her living with Big Time Rush and kids bullying her for living with Big Time Rush.

Katie clicked on the hashtag "#BTR" to see what people were saying about her brothers.

_Aren't Kendall and Jo so cute together? I'm so excited for them. #Jendall #KenJo #BTR_

_-No. Kendall should be with me. #BTR #KendallWillBeMine _

_ ._

_ James & Lucy r so having baby 2gether. Jealous! Lucky girl. #Jucy #BTR #LucyStone #baby_

_-Lucky? She's such a bitch. I hope she rots in hell. #BTR #baby #JucySucks_

_-Yeah first she dates Kendall and then moves onto his best friend? #Whore #BTR #Jucy #Kucy_

Well, okay, Katie wanted to jump through the internet and smack the people who posted that. Lucy wasn't a bitch or a whore. It wasn't like she jumped in bed with James the second Kendall picked Jo. It wasn't even like she dated Kendall. She knew Kendall had wanted to date Lucy, but all they shared was a kiss.

_-Lucy Stone is not a bitch or a whore. You're the bitch for thinking that she is! #BTR #LucyStoneIsBetterThanYou _

Katie quickly deleted that before she accidentally sent it and went back to reading.

_ What was up with Carlos and Alexa at #MVAs? #BTR _

_-I no right? I heard he was sick or sumthin. #BTR_

_ ._

_ I think Alexa's pregnant and that's why Carlos was acting so weird last night. #MVAs #BTR_

_-E! News says it's Lucy. _

_-They could be wrong. They were wrong about Lucy's song being about Kendall. _

_-I don't think they were. I think she was being nice to not ruin Kendall or __#BTR's reputation._

_-carlos and alexa were acting funny at #mva #baby not out of ?_

_-Jo and Kendall!_

_-Not the engagement argument again. It __doesn't line up. She'd be showing now. #BTR_

_-Who is Logan's girlfriend? #BTR_

_-Camille Roberts. It's not her._

"Katie?" She jumped at the sound of her mother's voice and quickly closed out of the Scuttlebutter page. She didn't need to be reading this.

.O.

"We need to talk about this," Alexa said.

"About what?" Carlos spoke after biting into a banana while sitting on the couch in Alexa's apartment flipping channels on the TV.

"You know what." Alexa sat down on the couch next to Carlos since he was sitting directly in the middle.

"We can get an annulment," Carlos suggested not looking at Alexa. "I think you can get that if you haven't consummated anything." He was unsure of what they did the night before but last night he was sure they didn't do any of that.

"Is that what you want?" She sounded hurt.

"I—no—I don't know. I mean, isn't that what we're supposed to do? I mean…" Carlos trailed off not sure what he meant.

"I love you, Los."

"I love you, too, Lex."

"But, obviously, you think we made a mistake."

"I didn't say that!"

"You suggested the annulment."

"Because I thought that was the right thing to do. Honestly, I have no idea what the right thing to do is. The thing is…I don't want the guys mad at me."

"Why would they be mad? And why do you care more about them than me?"

"I don't. I just…I don't know…this is so confusing." Carlos placed his head in his hands while still holding the half-eaten banana. "I don't want you mad at me and I don't want you mad more than I don't want the guys mad at me."

"I know." Alexa rubbed Carlos's back. "Look, here's the thing. We got married the other night. We have the marriage license to prove it. I love you. You love me. Why don't we…" Carlos lifted his head and looked at her. "Why don't we try this thing out? You're wearing the ring." She pointed to the gold band on Carlos's left ring finger which matched the thinner band on her left ring finger (if you're wondering neither wore the rings to the award show).

"Where did we get these?" Carlos laughed.

"If I remember correctly they were selling at the chapel-$100 each."

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember anything about that night. I don't want to not have memories of my wedding."

"You were, if this is even possible, drunk or high on the food. We ordered nachos and it snowballed from there. I remember you were upset over being the weak link in the band. You couldn't dance or sing. The band was going to fail because of you. You weren't going to win any awards at the MVAs. The Backstreet Boys would never want to work with you again. You were really hard on yourself and kept ordering soda after soda and greasy foods. After the nachos, it was fried cheese sticks, then onion rings; I forget what else, but funnily enough, no corn dogs."

Carlos looked at the banana suddenly not in the mood to eat it. The feeling of indigestion was strong in his mind.

"I'll never do that again."

"You know you're not the weak link. You're just as talented as Kendall, James, and Logan if not more so."

"I know," Carlos sighed. "I had a crappy dress rehearsal. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." She turned Carlos's head to her. "There's no one I'd rather be married to you than you." She pecked his lips. "I have an idea. We're married, but we don't have to tell anyone. When I get back from Europe we have a small wedding with family and BTR. I know my parents and sisters would like to be there and I'm sure your family would be mad to find out you got married without them."

Carlos nodded.

"You can pick out your engagement ring and we'll get better wedding rings."

"I don't know." Alexa fiddled with the ring on her finger. "I kinda like it. I mean, you picked it out."

"I did?"

"I think you did. I dunno, my memory's hazy on the events, too."

"You're okay with this? Being married? We haven't even been together for a year."

"I know this is right. But, if you don't want to stay married we can get the annulment and I'll move out of the Palmwoods.

Carlos's eyes widened. "No, that's not…no. I love having you live here. You're my girlfr—my wife. I love you. I just didn't know if you were comfortable with this, but you are."

"This is something we have to do." She kissed Carlos's nose.

"OK." Carlos smiled. "OK. Let's do it."

Alexa leaned over and bit off a piece of Carlos's banana grinning at him. Tossing the banana behind him on the couch Carlos pulled Alexa to her feet.

"Let's go consummate our marriage."

* * *

><p><strong>November 2 1990: There will be more Jo and Kendall. Logan and Camille should be coming up in the next chapter.<strong>

**Rusher Driver: Thank you for your review.**

**Well, that was a fast update. Short and sweet. I only wanted this chapter to deal with Carlos and Alexa, besides the small opening with Katie.**


	11. Chapter 11

"It came!" Logan exclaimed waving a fat manila envelope in front of Camille. The two had just entered apartment 2J and the mail was just lying on the counter.

"What came?" Camille eyed the envelope curiously.

"My acceptance letter to UCLA!" Logan revealed the white piece of paper with the UCLA letterhead. "Dear Mr. Mitchell, we are proud to inform you that you have been accepted into the UCLA pre-med program for the Fall 2014 semester." He looked at Camille. "I'm in! I'm in!" He grabbed her in a hug and started bouncing around.

"You're in? I didn't even know you applied."

"I didn't want anyone to know in case I didn't get in." Logan had stopped bouncing and was back to reading the paper. "Good news. My two classes at Aspen State will transfer."

"Why didn't you tell me?'

"Tell you what?"

"That you applied."

"I told you I didn't want anyone to know in case I didn't get in."

"But, I'm your girlfriend."

"And you're the one I didn't want to disappoint the most."

"But you didn't tell me." Camille backed away.

"Cam!"

"Do you not—I—are you leaving me?"

"What? No! UCLA is here in Los Angeles. You knew that, right?"

"Yes." Camille looked down at the floor. "It's just, you're going in a different direction. Are you quitting Big Time Rush?"

Logan thought back to the questions he asked himself back in Colorado.

"No."

"Well, then, what do you want?"

"I don't want this opportunity to pass me by. I don't want to look back and wish I'd gone to school when I didn't. This has been my dream for as long as I can remember and if I just let it go I don't know what to think. I can't." Logan sat down on the stool still holding his acceptance letter. "I don't want to regret it."

"And you think you can do both? Go to school and be in BTR?" Camille sat down next to him, turning him to look directly at her.

"I don't know. I'm willing to try."

"OK." Camille ran hand over his cheek. "I'll support you in whatever you do."

"Even if I wanted to murder someone?"

"Is there someone you want to kill?" She looked at him slyly.

"No, but if there was would you support me still?"

"Yes, even then."

"There's so much I have to do." Logan pulled the rest of the papers, pamphlets, and one book out of the envelope. "Housing…"

"You're not moving into the dorms, are you?"

"Got a pretty nice place here with a pretty nice girl. Why would I want to give that up? Just one of the forms they sent me." He grabbed the book and started perusing through it. "Classes!"

Camille giggled.

"Look at all these I can take: Organic Chemistry, Life Science, Molecular Biology of Cellular Processes & Experimental Applications of Theory…"

"What?"

"Biology of the cell," Logan continued. He continued flipping pages. "This is fascinating."

"Well, Mr. Fascinating, let's go to the pool."

"OK." With his nose still in the book, Logan followed Camille out of the apartment.

.O.

"UCLA…classes…fall…2014," Kendall read out loud as Logan sat down in the pool chair next to him. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Logan responded.

Kendall tapped the book. "This."

"Oh." Logan moved the book below his eyes so he could look at Kendall. "College courses at UCLA for the fall semester."

"And why would you be looking at…oh. You applied to UCLA, didn't you?"

"Yep and I got in." Logan went back to looking at the book.

"Full-time?"

Logan nodded.

Kendall shook his head.

Camille rolled her eyes.

"I'm not giving up on the band if that's what you're thinking."

"I didn't say anything," Kendall retorted. "I'm actually proud of you."

"Really?" Logan raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, really. I know becoming a doctor is your dream. The band can't go on forever and you need to do what you need to do."

Logan's eyebrows rose further. This was quite the change from the way Kendall acted in Aspen when James made the decision to quit the band.

"Are you saying you're okay if we wanted to take a break?" Logan asked hesitantly. Camille gasped.

"I—I've had time to think about it. I don't want a break—a real one. I love performing with you guys. But, I'm not going to stand in the way of you pursuing your dreams."

"Thanks. That means a lot. I'm not asking you to give up Big Time Rush so I can go to school."

"We'll make room for your dream."

"OK, where's the real Kendall Knight? The one who wouldn't talk to James for days because he said he was thinking of quitting the band?"

"You said you're not quitting the band and this is for your dream not because you have some silly notion that this is what you're supposed to do."

Logan went back to reading the catalog not believing what Kendall said.

.O.

That night Logan lay in bed still looking over the catalog. He was in awe of all the classes he could take.

"Why didn't I think of this sooner?" He asked out loud when Kendall entered the room ready for bed.

'I dunno."

"All these classes!"

"You are so weird." Kendall crawled under his covers and turned his back to Logan.

"I'm not weird!" Logan replied offended.

"You're the only person I know who wants to go to school."

"I don't want to go to school. I want to become a doctor. But, apparently, I need school if I want to pass the MCAT." Logan sighed. If he could just jump into being a doctor tomorrow he so would. Although, those classes at the university looked very exciting…

* * *

><p><strong>Logan does not want to murder anyone! That's not one of the surprises. I just wanted Camille to say she'd support him even then. And I know UCLA doesn't have a pre-med program (though I hear it's a good school to go to if you plan on going to med school), but let's just say they do for the sake of it. <strong>

**Some chapters don't come as easily as others.**

**I want to know what gender you would like James and Lucy's baby to be. I already have one in mind, but maybe you can change it with a convincing enough argument? Probably not, but I'd like to see what you think.**

**When I was in college I always got excited looking at the course catalog. Oh my gosh, I can take this class and this class and ooh, that one, too. Of course, college classes are like any other classes so as much fun as they seem in the catalog it doesn't always pan out in the classroom.**


	12. Chapter 12

"All right, dogs," Gustavo began. "We're not going to make a fourth album at this time."

James, Carlos, Logan, and Kendall shared looks. The following Monday after the awards show they had to get back to work in the studio, or so they thought.

"Then what are we doing here?" Kendall asked.

"We're not making a fourth _AL_bum. Instead we're going for an EP." Gustavo walked around the boys. "Griffin and I have worked out our new contract and he wants the first thing released to be an EP consisting of eight songs…all duets."

"Like a song with James and me, one with Carlos and Logan, and then one where I sing with Logan?" Kendall asked.

"No. Like Big Time Rush and another artist."

"Like when we recorded that song with Jordin Sparks," James said.

"Exactly."

The guys shared looks again with each other. This could be fun.

"Who are we working with?" Carlos asked.

"That hasn't been completely worked out, yet, but I was thinking…" Gustavo tapped his chin. "Lucy Stone, Jo Taylor, and Alexa Vega?"

The guys shared more looks with each other. Their girlfriends?!

"What about Camille?" Logan asked.

"I—um," Gustavo, for once in his life, was at a loss for words. "Well, there isn't any place for acting…"

Logan knew the truth, but he also knew how hurt Camille would be if the other girls were on the EP and she was not.

"I'll figure something out," Gustavo conceded. "NOW, get into the booth! We are going to work on this song I just wrote that you will be singing with either Ryan Tedder or Dan Reynolds. I just have to hear back from their camps."

.O.

"My agent talked to me today," Jo said. She had a twinkle in her eye as she sat next to Kendall on the orange couch in his apartment. "Something about Gustavo calling her up…wanting me to sing with BTR on their upcoming EP…"

"Oh yeah." Kendall turned to Jo with a bright smile. "You came to LA with aspirations to be a singer."

"I did, but then I got the part on New Town High. I never knew acting could so much fun."

"But, you still like singing?"

"Yeah, I do. I don't think I'll be pursuing it as a career, though."

"Why not? You have a lovely voice. I love hearing you sing."

"You're just saying that because you're my fiancé."

Kendall put his arm around Jo. Jo didn't sing much but he loved when she joined them in their fireside guitar parties.

"I'm saying it because it's true. You have a very beautiful voice and if you really tried to pursue a career in singing you could do it."

"Yeah? Then why haven't I? Why haven't I been signed to a record label? I've been here for 4 years. No one's biting."

"Do the duet with us. It'll be a great chance to show off your vocals and maybe it will lead to something bigger. You can't know if you don't try."

"OK."

Kendall jumped and pulled Jo to her feet.

"Great! We can work on our song. I've been thinking of turning my song for you into a duet."

"Tell me more about this EP," Jo asked as they headed for Kendall's room.

"Oh, well, Griffin wants us to make an 8 track EP consisting of duets."

"Instead of working on the song," Jo sat down on Kendall's bed, "we need to pick out a color theme for the wedding."

"The wedding? It's more than a year away!" Kendall pulled his guitar out along with his notebook.

"I can't get really started on planning if we don't have a color theme!"

.O.

Lucy dropped the bag she'd been holding when she opened her apartment door and found James lounging on her couch reading a magazine.

"Sorry," he said looking up. He put the magazine down and hurried to help Lucy pick up her stuff. "What's this?"

"I, um," Lucy looked away, "I bought some pants." She pulled two pairs of sweat pants out of the bag. "They're not maternity. I'm not ready to go in those stores, yet, but they're, um, they're elastic so…" she moved her hands around her barely there belly. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you to come home from the studio." James put an arm around Lucy and led her to the couch. "Anything happen today? I mean, besides you buying new pants?"

"Well, I decided…I decided to go on my tour."

"What?" That wasn't what James expected to hear.

"Yeah, I mean, I want to go on the tour. I could give you all the stupid excuses like I don't want to let my fans down, but truth be told, I just want to go on tour."

"But, you're pregnant?"

"Yeah, so? I can still sing and play my guitar."

"And when your belly's out to there?"

"I don't know. Please, don't be mad."

"I'm not mad, I'm concerned. For your health. And the baby's."

"I know." Lucy looked at the bag she had laid in her lap. "I'm leaving next month."

"N-next month?" James coughed.

"Yeah, my manager and I are working out the details. We're cutting out about half the dates. It's going to be a slower tour. And I still have to get checked out by the doctor before I go. I'm going to be all right."

"Well, all right," James conceded. "I just want you to be careful—"

"I will."

"And I'd like to go with you."

"Aren't you guys recording a new EP?"

James smiled. "How did you know about that?"

"My manager may have gotten a call from your manager about me singing on one of your songs."

"Will you?"

"Hell, yes!"

"Great. So you sing on our EP and I go on tour with you...well, I'll have to talk to Gustavo about that, but I can be persuasive."

.O.

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." Alexa tossed her phone on her bed and looked at Carlos's forlorn face. "They need me to leave tomorrow." She pecked Carlos's lips. "But, hey, the sooner I go out, the sooner I'll solve this mission, and the sooner I get to come home."

"And the sooner we get to have our wedding in front of our family and friends." He fingered the wedding ring he wore on a chain around his neck, usually hidden under his shirt.

"Exactly."

Carlos had been walking around Alexa's bedroom, but stopped when she kissed him, and now he joined her on the bed. He hated seeing her leave.

"Don't look so sad. I'm not leaving until tomorrow."

"Yeah, but you're leaving _tomorrow."_

"Carlos, you've never been this down about it before. I've gone on many missions and you've been okay with those."

"Have I?" He asked. "You weren't going away to Europe. You weren't going away for three months, possibly more. I wasn't accidentally married to you—accidentally but happily. It's a completely different situation now."

"So, you didn't care before?" Alexa joked.

"No, no, that's not what I—" Carlos blushed when he realized Alexa was kidding.

"I got a call from my agent today. Do you know anything about that?" She raised an eyebrow and poked Carlos on the nose.

"I have no idea what you're referring to." He sighed. "Gustavo wants the girlfriends to sing on our new album…no wait, it's not an album, it's an EP. Whatever, he wants the girlfriends to sing on the album. Well, actually, one girlfriend, one fiancée, and one wife though he doesn't know that."

"You're leaving someone out."

"Camille."

"I've never heard her sing."

"That's because she can't."

.O.

"How was filming today?" Logan asked Camille as he met her in the lobby of the Palmwoods.

"Fine."

Logan put his arm around his girlfriend as they walked towards the elevator.

"That doesn't sound like a fine."

Camille shook her head.

"I don't know."

"If you don't want to talk about it that's okay." Logan shrugged.

"It's Isaac Jones. He's so freakin' irritating. I just want to slap him all the time only I can't 'cause it would be right in the middle of a scene, every scene."

"That hasn't stopped you before." Logan hurried onto the elevator to avoid getting slapped by his girlfriend. When a hand didn't land on his face he looked at her questioningly.

"I'm okay, really. Only have two more scenes with him and then his character dies."

He wondered if it was something else, something she wasn't telling him, but he wasn't going to ask as she was already in a bad mood.

They could hear the noise the second they stepped off the elevator on the second floor. Sharing a look Camille and Logan decided to go ahead and venture into room 2J. As soon as they did Kendall barreled past them and out the door.

"Women," he muttered.

"What was that about?" Camille asked Logan quietly.

He shrugged.

"What was that about?" James asked entering the already open door with Lucy by his side.

"I don't know. I could hear them yelling all the way down the hall but couldn't make out what they were saying," Logan replied.

"He left, didn't he?" Jo stepped into the living area.

"What are you guys fighting about?" Camille asked.

"Wedding stuff," Jo grumbled. "I know how long it is until the wedding, but if we get started now we won't be in such a rush when it gets closer."

"Hey, Kendall's a guy," Camille said.

"What are you implying?" Logan asked.

"You're a guy." Camille kissed Logan on the cheek. "You figure it out."

* * *

><p><strong>Ryan Tedder: lead singer of One Republic.<strong>

**Dan Reynolds: lead singer of Imagine Dragons.**

**Thanks, Rusher-Driver, for your review.**

**BTW, it makes me giggle when in Big Time Bad Boy the guys walk into the apartment after destroying Wayne-Wayne and Kendall just says, "Hey, Mom, I'm a bad boy!"**


	13. Chapter 13

"Our first stop is San Diego and then from there we travel along the southern border, right?" James asked Lucy. The two sat in separate lounge chairs at the pool discussing her tour which they would be leaving on in a few days. James opted for tanning time so Lucy reluctantly joined him. Almost in her seventeenth week, she was starting to round out a bit, but hadn't really popped. Almost exclusively, she wore sweat pants and any other pants she had with elastic waist bands. Not yet was she ready to step foot into a maternity store. The paparazzi would be on her like white on rice the second she did that.

Carlos, reclining in the chair on James's other side, groaned.

"What's wrong with you?" James asked.

Carlos groaned again. James made to smack him.

"James!" Lucy admonished him. "He just misses Alexa."

"Yeah, I just miss my w—I mean what?"

"What? She's only been gone a week."

Carlos groaned again.

"My, aren't you the sensitive one?" Lucy playfully rolled her eyes.

"Sorry," James mumbled. "OK, so after San Diego we go to…Tucson?"

"No, we're skipping Tucson and going on to Santa Fe."

"And then Dallas and Atlanta. OK. I wish I could just hop on that bus and go straight through your summer tour with you, but for some reason Gustavo seems to think he needs my vocals for our EP."

"Babe, I'll be all right."

"Do you not want me to go?" James looked hurt.

"I do. You're just going to be flying back and forth a lot. You really don't have to do that for me and don't you dare say you'd do anything blah, blah, blah all that crap."

"I just like spending time with you and if I have to fly back and for—OK, I won't say it."

Carlos groaned louder this time. He hopped up from his chair and jumped into the pool (he was wearing swimming trunks and a t-shirt). His helmet bobbed along the water as it somehow left his head when he cannonballed.

"My chain!" He squealed. Carlos ran his hands across his neck thrashing wildly in the pool. A few residents in the water made to get out of his way.

"Calm down!" James called out. "It's just a necklace. I'll buy you a new one."

"I don't want a new one and it's not just a necklace." Carlos said something softly that James was unable to pick up. He ducked down under the water.

"What's his problem?"

"James! His girlfriend just left for a long trip away. Cut him some slack."

"OK, OK, I'm sorry."

"You're such a pill." Lucy swung her legs over the side of the chair, slid her bare feet into the sandals waiting, and stood up. "I got a meeting with my manager I need to get ready for." She walked toward the lobby without so much as giving James a peck on the cheek.

Instead of dwelling on what was wrong with Lucy, James jumped into the pool to help Carlos find his precious necklace.

"I can't believe I lost it," Carlos muttered, "jumping into the pool."

James picked up the black helmet floating along the water and dumped it on Carlos's head, water and all. The chain, stuck to the helmet, smacked Carlos in the face.

"Oh, good." He quickly took the helmet off and just about ripped off the chain. "No, no, no, no, no," he kept repeating.

"What? You found your necklace." James hoisted himself out of the pool and sat on the edge with his feet dangling in the water.

"Chain," Carlos said. "It's broken and there's something…a thing…something on it and now it's missing." He looked inside and outside the helmet.

"It'll turn up," James assured. "And if it doesn't, well, you can get a new one."

Carlos looked at him with hatred before going underwater again.

"Kendall!" Carlos shouted when he came up for air and noticed both Kendall and Jo walking into the pool area. How could he miss them since they were being so loud?

"You don't need me! You don't want me!" Kendall yelled at Jo before turning to Carlos.

"What was that about?" James asked him.

Kendall waved his hand and continued on to Carlos.

"This is your wedding, too! I just want you to be involved," Jo said.

"I lost my r—pendant. Can you help me find it?" Carlos asked.

"Sure, where'd you have it last?" Kendall asked.

"In the pool."

Kendall took off his shirt and jumped into the pool.

"What are we looking for?"

"Um, my," Carlos blushed. "Never mind."

Before Kendall could climb out of the pool James had gone over and grabbed Jo throwing her, in her jeans and blouse, into the pool next to Kendall.

"Hey! This shirt is dry clean only!" Jo exclaimed.

"Is it really?" James asked.

"No." She still looked mad. "What'd you do that for?"

"You two have been arguing for the last week and I want you to have it out, right now, in the water."

"He won't listen." Jo folded her arms and turned her back to Kendall. "He's just a guy and guys don't have a say in how their weddings are put on. Well, I want him to. It's his wedding as much as it is mine."

"I gave you suggestions and you shot them down!" Kendall retorted.

"Calling out random colors aren't suggestions! You don't even care."

"I do care, but…wedding planning, that's girl stuff."

"It doesn't have to be." Jo turned to look at Kendall with his wet hair slicked back. "You do know that you're 50% of this wedding."

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't care?"

"Right there! See, you don't care!" Jo splashed water in his face and made for the edge of the pool. Kendall grabbed her arm to stop her. "Let me go!"

"Bad choice of words." He wiped the water from his eyes. "I meant I don't care about anything except marrying you. I don't care if it happens in a back alley with no one present. I don't care if the colors for the wedding are orange and purple with black roses and green tuxedos. If you're there and I get to say I do and I get to kiss the bride, that's all I care about."

"What a cornball!" James shouted kicking water in Kendall's direction.

"Shush," Jo ordered. "I want you to have a say, because this is your wedding, too. I don't want you to be disappointed."

"How can I? I love you, Jo, and like I said I'll love anything you decide."

"Yeah, I know…"

"What? Do you not trust yourself? You know you have Camille and Katie and my mom and your mom and whoever else to help you. You really don't need me. I'm just the groom."

"I hate that you think that, but I am tired of arguing," Jo sighed.

"Forgive me?" Kendall pouted.

"Of course."

When the happy couple kissed Carlos groaned the loudest groan of the day.

.O.

Katie entered the lobby of the Palmwoods after a long day at school. She couldn't wait until she was sixteen and could drive herself instead of having her mother do it. If only her high school had a bus route going by the Palm Woods. But, unfortunately, she was the only person from her long-term extended stay hotel attending public school. She spotted Carlos lying on the couch with one hand on his chest and another on his forehead. She had to admit he looked kind of sick.

If he was—that could only mean one thing.

Katie rushed over to him, her backpack banging against her back, and worriedly tapped him on the shoulder.

"Huh?" He opened his eyes and stared at Katie.

"Is Alexa okay? What's wrong? Did you hear something about Alexa?" Katie was the only person outside BTR that knew Alexa was spy. How did she find out? It's Katie Knight. Can't keep a secret from her. Thing was, no one knew Katie knew.

"Huh, what? You heard something from Alexa?" Carlos popped up with an odd expression on his face. "No, wait, how would—why would you think something's wrong with her?"

"So, nothing is wrong?" Katie ignored his question.

"I lost my—I mean, no." He held up his necklace. "Well, my chain my broke."

"Take it to the jewelers or buy a new one." Katie figured there was something more to it, but she wasn't going to pry. Well, she wasn't going to verbally ask, but she would find out.

"How was school?" Carlos asked.

"Trying to change the subject?"

"And guess what?" Camille exclaimed happily as she entered the lobby with Logan drawing Carlos and Katie's attention.

"Brad died today. Pushed off a cliff," She squealed with glee.

"Huh?" Carlos asked.

"Brad is played by Isaac Jones. He and Camille haven't been getting along and today his character in the web series died so Camille no longer has to deal with him."

"He died? That's so sad."

"No," Katie gave Carlos a look. "His character died."

"Oh, right." Carlos felt around his neck and started panicking again.

"Your necklace isn't there."

"Oh, right." He stood up. "I think I'm going to go." He started to head in the direction of the front door.

"Where are you going?" Katie asked him.

"To the crib."

She pointed in the opposite direction.

"Oh, right." He did an about face and headed toward the elevators.

"Something is definitely off with him," Katie muttered.

* * *

><p><strong>RBSCDC<strong>: Thank you for your reviews. I will take your suggestions into consideration.  
><strong>Rusher Driver:<strong> Thank you for your review. Was your sister's color theme orange and purple with black roses and green tuxes? ;)

**Chey21:** Thank you for your review.

**November 2 1990**: Thank you for your review.

In _Big Time Girlfriends_ I wonder what they did with the shirts Sasha and Carlos had made of each other. Is there a photo shirt of Carlos wearing his helmet hanging in his closet or is it somewhere in the wardrobe department of Nickelodeon? Or maybe Alexa wears it when she goes to bed when the two are apart or maybe he was dating Sam at the time and when they broke up she burned it? Or maybe Scott Fellows framed it and there's some kind of BTR shrine going on somewhere that includes James Diamond's head shots? Or maybe it's in Glickman's deposit box along with Carlos's helmet.

I wonder about weird things like this like if Daniel Radcliffe got to take home a pair of Harry Potter glasses and when he's making out with a girl does she make him put them on so she can pretend she's making out it with Harry?


	14. Chapter 14

"Three days here and then I fly back so we can begin rehearsing with Jo for song number one on our album," James said.

"EP," Lucy corrected.

"Yeah that. Actually, I think the guys are already rehearsing with her, but I get three days with you before I'm needed back." The two of them sat on the couch in Lucy's tour bus snuggling as it barreled down the highway from Los Angeles to San Diego for the first stop on the Lucy Stone North American Tour 2014. Right after the San Diego concert, James would fly back to LA for a few days of rehearsal and then catch up with the bus before it hit Santa Fe. Or was it after Santa Fe and before Dallas? James couldn't remember, but he did have an itinerary on his phone to remind him.

"Gah, I feel so pregnant," Lucy complained with one hand on her belly as she snuggled into James's chest.

"News flash, babe, you are."

"I know, but before I just felt, ugh, but now I really feel like there's a baby in there."

"Is it bothering you?"

"No, it just feels…weird."

"Can you feel it move yet?" James moved his hands to Lucy's belly which in his opinion was getting firmer and rounder with each passing day.

"Not really. I can tell there's something there, but I can't make out anything specific." Lucy stood up and stretched. James watched the way her belly stuck out as she arched her back. She was a skinny girl before so any added weight became very apparent, at least to him. Well, he was used to her skinny body. "You're staring at my stomach, aren't you? I look pregnant don't I? Everyone's gonna be able to tell now."

"No, Babe, no." James reached for her arm. "If I didn't know I would just think…"

"You would just think I'm fat, right? Cause I'm fat. I'm a fat heffer."

"No, you're pregnant. You're beautiful."

"Stop trying to flatter me. It's not working." She grumbled as she headed for the teeny tour bus bathroom. She returned five minutes later with a yogurt cup.

"We're almost in San Diego and then we'll stop for dinner," James said even though it was only almost 3PM.

"I know," Lucy licked her spoon, "but baby's hungry." James's stomach growled causing Lucy to laugh. "And so are you."

James took hold of Lucy's hand and led the spoon filled with yogurt into his mouth giving her a cheeky grin.

"You do know you're taking away from your child when you do that?"

"One spoonful won't hurt him."

"Selfish brat," Lucy muttered with a smile.

.O.

"Carlos!"

"Mrs. Knight?" Carlos asked even though he knew it was her on the other end since caller I.D. said it was.

"I'm stuck on the other side of LA at the moment and Katie gets out of school soon. I called Kendall but he's busy with Jo. James is in San Diego. Logan is at Rocque Records. Can you pick up Katie from school?"

"What are you doing on the other side?"

"Not important. Can you pick up Katie? I don't want her riding the city bus."

"And I'm your last resort?"

"I won't make the dinosaur chicken you love so much!"

"I don't have a car."

"You have the, what do you call it, the BTR-mobile, the convertible?"

"Logan took it to the studio."

"A limo came to pick him up."

"Kendall's using it."

"They took Jo's car. I won't do your laundry for a month."

Carlos sighed. He hated doing laundry. He always did something wrong and ended up with pink underwear or a shrunken sweater or something equally bad.

"OK, fine."

He grabbed the keys from Logan's nightstand; they really needed to get three more sets if they were still sharing the car, and headed down to the parking garage. On the way he passed the pool area blocked off with caution tape and cones.

"What's going on?" He asked Bitters, nodding his head toward the pool.

"Something's caught in the drain. The pool has to be shut down until someone can get it out."

Carlos's heart swelled. His ring! It had to be his ring! He was going to get it back!

He started for the pool when he realized he had to go pick up Katie. Well, maybe it would be out by the time he got back. Oh, he hoped so.

The traffic wasn't so bad once Carlos hit the road. Believing he would soon be getting his ring back he was in a great mood and decided to listen to music.

"Who the heck drove this last?" He questioned when the radio blasted some bluegrass music. "NO!" He shouted at the sound of the song on the next station. "Alexa was in that movie!" He scanned through four stations before stopping on one playing an Eric Carmen tune and as he pulled into the high school parking lot he was confidently belting out "All By Myself" not aware that groups of teenage girls were recording him on their cell phones.

As soon as he finished he realized where he was. The same girls who had recorded him were now screaming and aiming to jump into the car. He pressed the button, or what he thought was the button, to bring the top up but nothing happened.

"Up, up!" He shouted.

Katie suddenly jumped into the car, pressed the correct button, the lid went up, and Carlos drove off.

"What are you thinking?" She smacked him in the back of the head. "Look at that." She immediately played a video posted of Carlos's rendition of the 1980s classic.

"I—I—"

"Whatever. Let's just go home." The video ended with the BTR-mobile screeching out of the parking lot. "Don't do that ever again."

They spent the rest of the ride listening to the radio. Katie turned it to a Top 40 station and pretended not to be interested when "Like Nobody's Around" came on. Finally, they pulled into the Palmwoods parking garage. Carlos bolted out of the car.

"Did they find it?" He asked out of breath as he tumbled into the lobby with Katie right behind him.

"Find what?" Katie asked.

"Huh?" Bitters questioned.

"The—the," Carlos paused to catch his breath. "What was blocking the drain in the pool?" He jerked his thumb toward the pool area.

Bitters uncurled his fist. "Just this."

Carlos took one look at Bitters, grabbed the ring, and ran toward the elevator.

"That's not yours!"

Carlos slammed the up button to the elevator.

"Come on, come on."

Finally, the doors opened. He stepped onto the elevator and repeatedly smashed the closed door button when Katie stuck a foot in between the closing doors causing them to open back up. She entered next to Carlos and the doors closed.

Carlos purposefully did not look at Katie.

"That's a wedding ring," Katie stated matter-of-factly.

Carlos did not reply.

"You, um, you're keeping a secret. Why? What are you afraid of?" When Carlos didn't answer Katie continued. "You're married, aren't you? You married Alexa without telling any of us and now you won't say anything. You're trying to keep it a secret for whatever reason, I have no idea. Carlos? Why?"

The elevator opened on the third floor where Carlos had planned to get off for Alexa's apartment, but now he just stood there, unable to say or do anything.

"She's not pregnant, is she? No, she wouldn't have gone on this mission if she was."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm Katie Knight."

He ushered Katie into Alexa's apartment, which he had a key for, and sat her down firmly on the couch.

"So, is this like your home now? Can I have your bedroom?"

"Alexa and I accidentally got married the night before the MVAs. I was drunk or something."

"You were drinking? I always knew you were the bad boy."

"What? No! I ate too much. It was a food high or something. I don't understand it myself. I don't remember anything, but I have this ring and a marriage license that proves I'm Alexa's husband and she's my wife."

"Are you getting divorced?"

"No." He started pacing the room. "When she gets back, we're having a small wedding. We're going to pretend I got so worried during her time away I realized I needed to marry her or something like that. She came up with that idea."

"Why? Why not just tell everyone the truth. You eloped."

Carlos shrugged. "I can't just…it's hard…I dunno…I mean it was an accident…it's just something stupid Carlos would do. The guys would be mad I didn't include them or something and Kendall would be mad I'm trying to steal the spotlight away from him."

"Wouldn't he still feel that way when you have your wedding?"

Carlos sighed. "This is all so complicated."

"It doesn't have to be."

"Don't tell anyone, okay? I would just rather you not."

"OK." Katie held up her hands. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Crap, now I have to get a new chain." He pulled the broken necklace out of his pocket.


End file.
